After a successful career as a leading soprano, Marta Domingo retired from the stage to raise the Plácido Domingo family. Once their sons had grown up, she turned her attention to stagecraft, which has always fascinated her. Her directorial debut took place in 1991 with Samson et Dalila for CulturArte at the Teatro de la Opera in Puerto Rico. Career highlights include Tosca for the opening of Seville's La Maestranza Theater; Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Puerto Rico; La Rondine for Bonn Opera, Washington National Opera, Warsaw Opera and LA Opera, an acclaimed production that was also seen internationally on television; Rigoletto in Los Angeles and Washington; and La Traviata in Liège, Washington, St. Etienne, the Far East and Los Angeles, where it was filmed and released on DVD. Her production of Wolf-Ferrari's Sly at Washington National Opera gave the work its American stage premiere and also served as her directing debut at the Metropolitan Opera. She also directed it in Tokyo for Washington National Opera's tour of Japan and at Rome Opera. She created her production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann for the Kirov Opera in St. Petersburg and it has been seen subsequently at Washington National Opera and in Los Angeles. In June 2009 she makes her San Francisco Opera debut with a production of La Traviata that she both directed and designed, first seen at its premiere at LA Opera in June 2006.