Opera superstar raises $300,000 for Christchurch arts

Placido Domingo and Katherine Jenkins are performing in Christchurch to raise money for the quake-ravaged city's arts community. Photo / AP

World-renowned opera singer Placido Domingo will perform for an 8000-strong crowd in Christchurch tonight.

The sold-out concert has raised $301,588, which will help rebuild the city's earthquake-ravaged arts community.

The money will be divided between the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and the Court Theatre.

The great Spanish tenor, 70, postponed another commitment to travel to New Zealand for the one-off concert at the CBS Canterbury Arena, where he will be joined by Welsh opera star, Katherine Jenkins.

A patron of the Christchurch-based Southern Opera Trust, Domingo, whom many regard as one of the greatest singers in the history of opera, agreed to perform for a reduced fee.

One third of the world-renown Three Tenors, Domingo can empathise with Christchurch's loss of life. In 1985, he lost four of his own family members in the magnitude 8.1 earthquake that struck Mexico and killed an estimated 10,000 people.

The CSO lost its base in Christchurch's Arts Centre in the February earthquake, as well as access to its primary venue, the Christchurch Town Hall, and had to cancel all of its concerts to the end of July.

- NZ Herald staff