Domingo to Miss Several Met Performances

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Placido Domingo as Don Carlo in the opera "Ernani" at the Metropolitan Opera, March 2015.Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Updated, 5:38 p.m. | Plácido Domingo, the globe-trotting tenor-turned-baritone and conductor, has been hospitalized with an inflamed gallbladder that doctors plan to remove next week, forcing him to withdraw from several performances of Puccini’s “Tosca” that he was scheduled to conduct this month at the Metropolitan Opera, the company announced Wednesday.

Mr. Domingo, who will celebrate his 75th birthday in January, was admitted to a New York hospital on Tuesday, the Met said, and he is scheduled to have it removed in a laparoscopic procedure early next week. The company said that he was expected to make a full recovery and that he plans to return to “Tosca” in November.

It is the second recent high-profile conducting change at the Met: the company’s music director, James Levine, withdrew earlier this month from the entire run of a new production of Berg’s “Lulu.”

In Mr. Domingo’s place, Marco Armiliato will lead the opening-night performance of “Tosca” on Friday, and Paolo Carignani will conduct it on Oct. 21, 24 and 29 and Nov. 2. Mr. Domingo is expected to return to his originally scheduled run with the Nov. 6 performance, officials said. He also plans to return to the Met in April to sing the title role in Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra.”

Last month Mr. Domingo opened the Los Angeles Opera season singing the title role in Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi,” changing out of his costume at intermission and descending into the pit for the second half to conduct Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci.”