"I am looking forward to the concert and I hope audiences will enjoy the programme we put together," Domingo said. "I love Hungarian audiences, and Hungary has great theatrical traditions, excellent composers and conductors."
Domingo will perform on the Expo Center's open-air stage together with the Grammy Award-winning soprano Ana María Martínez and the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of the New York Metropolitan Opera's Eugene Kohn. On the programme are excerpts from operas by Verdi, Puccini and Cilea, as well as operettas by the Hungarians Ferenc Lehár and Imre Kálmán.
Placido Domingo
Domingo, who is visiting Pécs for the first time, said he liked to visit four or five new places each year because he was curious to see the reactions of music lovers who have never heard him perform live before.
Pécs Mayor Péter Tasnádi said Domingo and his travelling company would sightsee in Pécs then visit nearby Villány, one of Hungary's most famous wine-growing regions, for a wine-tasting.
Martínez said she was pleased to have an opportunity to wander around the city of Pécs. At performances at other venues around the world there is usually only time enough for a press conference, she added.
Placido Domingo leaving his handprints in Pécs's Cella Septichora
After the press conference, Domingo left his handprints in a concrete block for posterity. He also met briefly with the Hungarian songwriter and performer Zorán, who is a partner in Hear the World, an international organisation supported by Domingo that raises the profile of hearing loss.
Mayor Tasnádi said the Saturday concert, which is nearly sold out, shows Pécs can organise big, quality events in the run-up to 2010, when it will take the European Capital of Culture title.
