L.A. OPERA SIGNS DOMINGO AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR.

Byline: Reed Johnson Daily News Staff Writer

Chalk up a few thousand more frequent-flier miles for the opera world's busiest star.

Placido Domingo, whose globe-hopping itinerary as tenor, conductor and artistic administrator has made him one of the most omnipresent operatic talents of modern times, will become Los Angeles Opera's artistic director beginning in July 2000.

Domingo, 57, currently L.A. Opera's principal guest conductor and artistic adviser, will assume principal responsibility for the company's artistic decision-making from L.A. Opera general director Peter Hemmings, who announced Monday that he will retire in June 2000.

It is expected that L.A. Opera eventually will be naming a new managing director to oversee the company's financial and administrative duties, which Hemmings also currently handles.

A former administrator of the Scottish Opera, general manager of the Australian Opera and managing director of the London Symphony Orchestra, Hemmings has spent the better part of four decades in arts administration. He was selected by the Music Center Opera Association board in November 1984 to launch a Los Angeles opera company.

In his 16 years with the company, Hemmings presided over L.A. Opera's formation in 1986 and its growth from a small regional company to one of the half-dozen largest in the United States. Since making its debut in 1986 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with Domingo playing the title role in Verdi's ``Otello,'' L.A. Opera has steadily increased its subscriber base to 16,500.

It now produces eight operas a year, for a total of 50 performances, on a budget of $19.5 million. While it has concentrated on the standard repertory, it also has staged lesser-known and new operas.

Hemmings said the biggest challenge facing L.A. Opera will arise in 2002, when the Los Angeles Philharmonic moves from the Dorothy Chandler across the street to the new 2,350-seat Walt Disney Concert Hall. That will leave L.A. Opera as the Dorothy Chandler's principal tenant, creating opportunities for additional programming but also posing a need for more staff and ``a considerable reshaping of the company,'' Hemmings said.

Given his long association with L.A. Opera, Domingo's appointment is not unexpected. One of opera's most respected and accomplished performers, Domingo has sung more than 112 different roles, more than any tenor in history. He also has become a lucrative pop-culture property as one-third of the Three Tenors, the all-star trio of aria-belters that includes Jose Carreras and Luicano Pavarotti.

He has been associated with L.A. Opera since its inception in 1984, joining the Music Center Opera Association as a director. He was later named artistic consultant upon Hemmings' appointment as general director.

In recent years, Domingo has diversified into conducting and opera administration. Last September, to open L.A. Opera's 1997-98 season, he switched back and forth for three weeks between playing the male lead in ``Fedora'' and conducting ``La Boheme.''

He became music director of the Seville World's Fair in 1992, then was appointed artistic director of the Washington Opera, beginning with the 1996-97 season. By no means a ceremonial appointment in that capacity, Domingo has been credited with using his extensive connections to lure world-class talent, helping to turn Washington Opera from a regional company into an international one.

Still, given his existing obligations, L.A. Opera's board of directors has had ``extensive'' discussions with Domingo about his availability for the L.A. job, said Leonard I. Green, board president and chief executive officer.

With his singing career ``coming to a close'' and two grown sons living in Southern California, Domingo has personal as well as professional incentives to become a hands-on presence in Los Angeles, Green said.

``We knew that he wasn't willing to entertain an exclusive relationship with L.A. Opera because he has a relationship with Washington Opera, but I was fairly convinced . . . . and he was very direct in the way he intended to conduct his life.''