Domingo Headlines Katrina Benefit

Tenor Placido Domingo will be headlining the first operatic performance to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, since Hurricane Katrina wiped out four of the city's theatres five months ago (AUG05).

Mezzo-soprano DENYCE GRAVES, tenor PAUL GROVES and baritone Nathan Gunn will be joining him at the benefit concert.

ROBERT LYALL, director of the New Orleans Operatic Association, enthuses, "To have such a leading celebrity agree to come in and do this has made all the difference in the world."

Money raised from the concert will go towards the city's art community. In recent years, Domingo has raised millions through benefit concerts for AIDS victims, the 1985 Mexico earthquake and other natural disasters.