Placido Domingo spoke, right before Xmas, with Corriere della Sera about his love for Puccini, and he also took the time to comment on the sudden decision by la Scala to fire tenor Giuseppe Filianoti a few hours before the premiere of this past December 7, broadcast worldwide.
"Filianoti was scheduled to sing Lucrezia Borgia at 'my' Washington National Opera but he then asked me to free him in order to accept la Scala's proposal for December 7. The mistake was to organize that preview for the students that critics have been allowed to see. Someone said that singers were so-so and the conductor got scared and chose to replace the tenor. I don't want to criticize the general manager but if you selected a singer you have to go all the way, maybe someone will boo, but your decision is your decision. A bad moment for Filianoti. He had a contract with us, why did they even contact him? Having said that, I really hope to have Filianoti back to the USA; I will be back to Italy next season to celebrate my 40 years at la Scala with Simon Boccanegra"
Speaking of Filianoti, here's more of his Don Carlo at Scala courtesy of "babyfairy".