Opera Preview

Promised that a surprise would follow the opera recital, members of the audience watched the curtain rise on tenor Placido Domingo singing a plaintive aria from Puccini’s “The Girl of the Golden West.”

Never mind that it was a film clip. They burst into applause.

Next month the action will be live when Domingo appears at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion--as a bandito--in the opera about the California Gold Rush.

Stimulating interest in the upcoming production was the point of the recital and dinner presented by Hispanics for Los Angeles Opera at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles. Founded 11 years ago to encourage the Latino community’s appreciation of the art form, the nonprofit organization frequently stages social events that educate and entertain. It also sponsors benefits such as the annual Placido Domingo Award Dinner to raise funds for the L.A. Opera Education Program, an outreach each year to more than 30,000 predominantly Latino schoolchildren.

“When we began, only 2% to 3% of L.A. Opera tickets were being purchased by Hispanics,” said Orlando J. Ortega, chairman. “Now it’s close to 9%.”

When Domingo, honorary chairman of Hispanics for Los Angeles Opera, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom last month for promoting opera around the world, the group’s mission “gained even greater importance,” Ortega told about 200 guests at the Aug. 4 event at the Autry.

Group president Dolores E. Richardson said a speech by Domingo inspired her passion to bring opera to Latinos: “I heard him promise his mother that he would bring opera music to the Hispanic people,” she said. “He has kept that promise.”

Sporting western finery, partygoers sampled appetizers--chili con queso, chorizo strudel--at tables topped with bougainvillea at an alfresco cocktail reception before watching opera singers James Creswell, Cynthia Jansen and Jessica Rivera perform in the museum’s Wells Fargo Theatre.

Guests who arrived an hour before the 5 p.m. reception received a tour of the museum and viewed its historical exhibits. One crowd pleaser: “Art of the Charreria: A Mexican Tradition,” a display of everything from leather saddles and holsters encrusted with silver to sombreros embroidered with gold.

Wending her way through the crowd, dinner chairwoman Ileana Cataldo greeted guests and spoke of her love for opera. “It began when I was a little girl and my father would always sing, ‘Figaro!’ ‘Figaro!’ ” said Cataldo, who wore a flared black skirt embellished with silver conches. “He did it for fun, but he loved it and so did I.”

Ortega also cited an early exposure to opera. As a child he often heard his aunt’s opera records and learned to appreciate the genre as “the only way the human voice could really reach its maximum. It was like sports: ‘As high as you could jump’ was like ‘as powerful as you can sing.’ That was it for me.”

Coming up:

* Israel Cancer Research Fund presents Women of Action awards luncheon honoring actress/singer Diahann Carroll with its Lifetime Achievement Award on Aug. 14 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Tickets are $130 each. Call (323) 651-1200.

* The Henry Mancini Institute sponsors “Mancini Musicale” dinner and concert honoring Phil Ramone at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Aug. 17. Tickets are $275. Call (310) 288-1755.

* Project Angel Food, which prepares and delivers food to AIDS patients, sponsors an awards program on Aug. 17 at its Los Angeles headquarters featuring a performance by Tony and Grammy Award-winning singer Jennifer Holliday. Tickets are $275. Call (323) 845-1800, Ext. 235.

Disney Goals Team presents Celebrity Charity Hockey Game to benefit Spinal Cord Opportunities for Rehabilitation Endowment on Aug. 18 at Disney Ice, Anaheim. Tickets are $5 for children, $10 for adults. Call (323) 655-8298.

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Information for Social Circuits can be directed to Ann Conway at [email protected] or (800) LATIMES, Ext. 65952.