'King of Opera' Placido Domingo in Madrid hospital with pulmonary embolism Placido Domingo, dubbed the "king of opera," this morning thanked well-wishers for the flood of supportive messages after he hospitalised on Monday. Domingo, 72, was admitted into a Madrid hospital where he was treated for a pulmonary embolism brought on by a blood clot. His doctor has ordered three to four weeks rest, and a statement on his website said the singer "is expected to make a full recovery." The performer has been forced to cancel his five performances in Il Postino next Tuesday and a performance he was conducting at Madrid's Plaza Mayor four days later. This morning he took to Twitter to say: "Eternally Grateful and overwhelmed by the outpour of good wishes and sympathy from all of you. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Domingo is one of the most recognisable performers from the world of opera and has sung over 140 roles in six languages, with over 3,600 performances. Alongside Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, he formed the Three Tenors in 1990 which brought a huge new audience to the art form. In 1994, their televised concert in Los Angeles drew 1.3 billion viewers. Despite celebrating his 50th anniversary as an opera singer in 2011 he has shown little sign of slowing down. Following colon cancer surgery in 2010 he was back performing within 45 days.