Juan Diego Florez

Juan Diego Flórez (born January 13 1973 in Lima, Peru) is a Peruvian operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in bel canto operas. On June 4, 2007, he received his country's highest decoration, the Gran Cruz de la Orden del Sol del Perú.

Biography

Early years

Juan Diego Flórez was born in Lima, Peru, on January 13, 1973 where his father, Rubén Flórez, was a noted guitarist and singer of Peruvian popular and criolla music. In an interview in the Peruvian newspaper Ojo, Flórez recounted his early days when his mother managed a pub with live music and he worked as a replacement singer whenever the
Initially intending to pursue a career in popular music, he entered the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Lima at the age of 17. His classical voice emerged in the course of his studies there under Maestro Andrés Santa María. During this time, he became a member of the Coro Nacional of Peru and sang as a soloist in Mozart's Coronation Mass and Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle.

He received a scholarship to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia where he studied from 1993 to 1996 and began singing in student opera productions in the repertory that is still his specialty today, Rossini and the bel canto operas of Bellini and Donizetti. During this period, he also studied with Marilyn Horne at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. In 1994 the Peruvian tenor, Ernesto Palacio invited him to Italy to work on a recording of Vicente Martín y Soler's opera Il Tutore Burlato

. He subsequently became Flórez's teacher, mentor and manager and has had a profound influence on his career.

1996 – present

Flórez's first breakthrough and professional debut came in 1996, at the Rossini Festival in the Italian city of Pesaro, Rossini's birthplace. At the age of 23, he stepped in to take the leading tenor role in Matilde di Shabran when Bruce Ford became ill. He made his debut at La Scala in the same year as the Chevalier danois in Gluck's Armide. His Covent Garden debut followed in 1997 where he sang the role of Count Potoski in the world premiere of Donizetti's Elisabetta. Debuts followed at the Vienna State Opera in 1999 as Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia and at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 2002, again as Count Almaviva. On February 20, 2007, the opening night of Donizetti's La Fille du régiment at La Scala, Flórez broke the theater's 74-year-old tradition of no encores when he reprised "Ah! mes amis" with its nine high C's following an "overwhelming" ovation from the audience. He repeated this solo encore at New York's Metropolitan Opera House on April 21, 2008, the first singer to do so there since 1994.

Flórez is also active on the concert stages of Europe, North America, and South America. Amongst the many venues in which he has given concerts and recitals are the Wigmore Hall in London, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, the Teatro Segura in Lima, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In a departure from his usual repertoire, he sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" from the Broadway musical Carousel at the Berlin Live 8 concert in 2005.

He was signed by Decca in 2001 and since then has released six solo recital CDs on the Decca label: Rossini Arias, which won the 2003 Cannes Classical Award; Una furtiva lagrima, which won the 2004 Cannes Classical Award; Great Tenor Arias which won the 2005 Echo Klassik award for the best arias and duets recital; Sentimiento Latino; Arias for Rubini and most recently, Bel Canto Spectacular. In addition to his official discography, almost all his professionally performed roles have been preserved in radio broadcasts, and many also by television.

Flórez was married to German-born Australian Julia Trappe in a private civil ceremony on April 23, 2007 in Vienna. They held a religious ceremony at the Basilica Cathedral in Lima on April 5, 2008, which some of Peru's greatest celebrities, including President Alan García and author Mario Vargas Llosa, attended.

Awards and distinctions

Juan Diego Flórez has been recognized by his native country with several awards and distinctions. In May 2004, he received the Orden al Mérito Cultural de Lima, from the Mayor of Lima; the Orden al Mérito por servicios distinguidos en el grado de Gran Cruz from President Alejandro Toledo; and was named an Honorary Professor of San Martín de Porres University. On June 4, 2007, he received his country's highest honor, the Gran Cruz de la Orden El Sol del Perú, from President Alan García.

Flórez also appeared on the 2-sol stamp, part of a series of five stamps honouring contemporary Peruvian musicians issued on November 29 2004. It is highly unusual for a living opera singer to have been honoured in his home country this way, particularly one so young. (Flórez was 31 at the time). (The portrait of Flórez used on the stamp was by British photographer, Trevor Leighton, and was also used for the cover of his 2003 CD Una Furtiva Lagrima.)

From the classical music world he has received the Premio Abbiati 2000 (awarded by Italian critics for the best singer of the year); the ''Rossini d'oro; the Bellini d'oro; the Premio Aureliano Pertile; the Tamagno Prize; and the L'Opera award (Migliore Tenore) for his 2001 performance in La sonnambula at La Scala.

Voice

Flórez has a leggiero tenor voice of exceptional beauty which, while not of great size,citation needed

Roles sung on stage

Bellini

I Capuleti e i Montecchi — Tebaldo (student performance)
I puritani — Arturo
La sonnambula — Elvino

Donizetti

Don Pasquale — Ernesto
Elisabetta — Conte Potoski (concert performance)
''L'elisir d'amore — Nemorino
La Fille du régiment — Tonio
Maria Stuarda — Leicester

Gluck

Armide — Le chevalier danois
Orphée et Eurydice — Orphée (concert performance)

Lehár

The Merry Widow — Camille de Roussillon (student performance)

Martín y Soler

Il tutore burlato— Anselmo (concert performance)

Meyerbeer

''L'étoile du nord — Georges

Mozart

Le nozze di Figaro — Bartolo (student performance)

Paisiello

Nina, o sia, la pazza per amore — Lindoro

Prado

The Nightingale and the Rose — The student (student performance)

Puccini

Gianni Schicchi — Rinuccio

Rossini

Il barbiere di Siviglia — Conte di Almaviva
La Cenerentola — Don Ramiro
''L'italiana in Algeri — Lindoro
Matilde di Shabran — Corradino
Il signor Bruschino — Florville
Semiramide — Idreno
Le comte Ory — Comte Ory
Otello — Rodrigo
La donna del lago — Giacomo V
Il viaggio a Reims — Belfiore (student performance) & Libenskof
Zelmira — Ilo

Rota

Il cappello di paglia di Firenze — Fadinard

Strauss

Die Fledermaus — Alfred (student performance)

Verdi

Falstaff — Fenton
Rigoletto — Duke of Mantua

Discography

Opera

Alahor in Granata, Donizetti. Conductor: Josep Pons, CD: Almaviva, 1999
Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini. Conductor: Ralf Weikert CD: Live performance (1997), Nightingale Classics, 2004
Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini. Conductor: Gianluigi Gelmetti, DVD & Blu-Ray: Live performance (2005), Decca, 2005
La Cenerentola, Rossini. Conductor: Carlo Rizzi, CD: Live performance (2000), Rossini Opera Festival & Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pesaro, 2001
Le Comte Ory Rossini. Conductor: Jesus Lopez-Cobos, CD: Live performance (2003), Deutsche Grammophon, 2004
Don Pasquale, Donizetti. Conductor: Maurizio Benini, DVD: Live performance (2006), Decca, 2007
''L'Etoile du Nord, Meyerbeer. Conductor: Wladimir Jurowski, CD: Marco Polo, 1997
Falstaff, Verdi. Conductor: Riccardo Muti, DVD: Live performance (2001), EuroArts, 2003
La fille du régiment, Donizetti. Conductor: Riccardo Frizza, DVD: Live performance (2005), Decca, 2006
La fille du régiment, Donizetti. Conductor: Bruno Campanella, DVD: Live performance (2007), Virgin Classics, 2008
Matilde di Shabran, Rossini. Conductor: Riccardo Frizza, CD: Live performance (2004), Decca, 2006
Mitridate, Mozart. Conductor: Christophe Rousset, CD: Decca, 1999
Nina o sia La pazza per amore, Paisiello. Conductor: Riccardo Muti, CD: Ricordi, 2000
Semiramide, Rossini. Conductor Marcello Panni, CD: Nightingale Classics, 2001
La sonnambula, Bellini. Conductor: Alessandro de Marchi, CD: Decca (2008)
Il Tutore Burlato, Martin y Soler. Conductor: Miguel Harth-Bedoya, CD: Bongiovanni, 1995

Oratorio & Sacred Music

Cantatas Vol.2, Rossini. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly, CD: Decca, 2001
Messa Solenne, Verdi. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly, CD: Decca, 2000
Stabat Mater, Rossini. Conductor: Gianluigi Gelmetti, CD: Agora, 1998
''Le Tre Ore dell'Agonia del Nostro Signore Gesu Cristo, Niccolo Zingarelli. Conductor: Pierangelo Pelucchi, CD: Agora, 1995

Recital

Flórez para Chabuca (with Rubén Flórez, his father). Quadrasonic Ideas y Morrison Music & Video.
Canto al Peru (with Ernesto Palacio). Piano: Samuele Pala, CD: Bongiovanni, 1997
Rossiniana. Conductor: Manlio Benzi, CD: Agora, 1998
Vesselina Kasarova Arias & Duets. Conductor: Arthur Fagen, CD: RCA, 1999
Rossini Arias. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly, CD: Decca, 2002
Una Furtiva Lagrima, Bellini, Donizetti. Conductor: Riccardo Frizza, CD: Decca, 2003
Great Tenor Arias, Verdi, Gluck, Rossini. Conductor: Carlo Rizzi, CD: Decca, 2004
Sentimiento Latino, Spanish & Latin American songs. Conductor: Miguel Harth-Bedoya, CD: Decca, 2006
Arias for Rubini, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini. Conductor: Roberto Abbado, CD: Decca 2007
Bel Canto Spectacular, Bellini & Donizetti arias & duets. Conductor: Daniel Oren, CD: Decca 2008

Signed Music Artists