Plácido Domingo will be awarded the special prize for his life’s work as part of the Austrian Music Theatre Prize 2020.

In a press release, the organization said, “With his multifaceted talent, Plácido Domingo is one of the best and most influential vocal actors in the world; he has been setting international standards at the very highest level for decades. In addition to his repertoire, which with more than 150 roles has never been matched by any other tenor, Domingo has also made a name for himself as a conductor and opera director. Reason enough for initiator Karl-Michael Ebner to award this exceptional artist, who suffered from COVID-19 and has since recovered, with this year’s Austrian Music Theater Prize for his life’s work. The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, August 6, 2020, at W. A. Amadeus Airport in Salzburg.”

Domingo added, “It is with great pleasure that I have received the news that the Austrian Music Theatre Prize will be awarded to me for my career! Even greater is the joy of receiving it in the anniversary year of the Salzburg Festival, exactly 45 years after my debut in Salzburg. It is such a delicate moment in history for all of us, for our health and for the health of the whole world. The message of the Austrian Music Theatre Prize is simply wonderful: the promotion of the arts, and especially of music, is important in order to gain the energy for a new beginning. Austria is the country where music has accompanied every person since childhood. It is an immeasurable asset for the inner wealth of us all. My career is firmly connected with Vienna and Salzburg, where over the years I have had the honor of working with the best artists who have made me truly great. We applaud them for their commitment to make this incomparable atmosphere possible. We all hope that we will soon be able to breathe freely again, because we miss them so much.”

Among the artists who have received the award are René Kollo (2019), Grace Bumbry (2017),  Zubin Mehta (2016), and Neil Shicoff (2015).

Domingo returns to the stage in August for galas in Verona and Napoli and will open the fall season in Vienna in a revival production of Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra.”