Domingo to wear two hats

Placido Domingo, the Washington Opera’s artistic director, celebrated his 62nd birthday Tuesday by announcing that he will sing and direct in the 2003-2004 season that starts in September.

He will take the part of the hero Siegmund in Richard Wagner’s “Die Walkure” and direct Giacomo Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut.”

Wearing an orange hard hat, Domingo showed off the interior rebuilding of Washington’s old Constitution Hall, where the company will perform beginning next month while its regular home -- the Opera House at the Kennedy Center -- is being refurbished.

The Washington Opera’s 48th season will also include performances of Andre Previn’s work, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” some of them conducted by the composer.