Juan Diego Flórez (full name Juan Diego Flórez Salom, born January 13, 1973) is a Peruvian tenor singer known for performing in operas that feature a specific style of singing called bel canto. On June 4, 2007, he was awarded the highest honor in Peru, the Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Sun of Peru.

Biography

Flórez was born in 1973 in Miraflores district, Lima, Peru. He is the son of María Teresa Salom Olórtegui and Rubén Flórez Pinedo, a well-known guitarist and singer of Peruvian popular and criolla music. In an interview with the Peruvian newspaper Ojo, Flórez shared stories about his early life. His mother managed a pub with live music, and Flórez worked as a replacement singer when the main performer was sick. He said this experience helped him learn many types of music, from traditional huaynos to Elvis Presley. He believed that any well-structured music, whether jazz, opera, or pop, is valuable.

At first, Flórez wanted to become a popular musician. However, at age 17, he entered the National Conservatory of Music in Lima. There, he discovered his talent for classical singing. During his studies, he joined the National Choir of Peru and performed as a soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle.

Flórez received a scholarship to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he studied from 1993 to 1996. He began performing in student opera productions, focusing on works by Rossini and the bel canto operas of Bellini and Donizetti. During this time, he also studied with Marilyn Horne at the Music Academy of the West in Montecito. In 1994, the Peruvian tenor Ernesto Palacio invited Flórez to Italy to record an opera by Vicente Martín y Soler. Palacio later became Flórez’s teacher, mentor, and manager, greatly influencing his career.

Flórez’s first major success came in 1996 at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, Italy. At age 23, he took over the lead tenor role in Matilde di Shabran when the original singer became ill. That same year, he made his debut at La Scala in Italy as the Chevalier danois in Gluck’s Armide. Later that year, he performed the role of Georges in Meyerbeer’s L’étoile du nord with the Wexford Festival Opera. In 1997, he debuted at Covent Garden in London as Count Potoski in Donizetti’s Elisabetta. He later performed at the Vienna State Opera in 1999 and the New York Metropolitan Opera in 2002, both times as Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia.

In 2007, Flórez performed at La Scala’s opening night of Donizetti’s La fille du régiment. After a powerful audience reaction, he broke the theater’s 74-year-old rule by singing an encore with a high note called "Ah! mes amis." He repeated this at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 2008, the first singer to do so there since 1994.

Flórez performs in concert halls across Europe, North America, and South America. He has sung at venues such as 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 2005, he performed "You’ll Never Walk Alone" from the Broadway musical Carousel at the Berlin Live 8 concert.

In 2001, Flórez signed with Decca Records and released six solo recital CDs. These include Rossini Arias (2003 Cannes Classical Award winner), Una furtiva lagrima (2004 Cannes Classical Award winner), Great Tenor Arias (2005 Echo Klassik award winner), Sentimiento Latino, Arias for Rubini, Bel Canto Spectacular, and Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice (recorded live in 2008). His performances are also preserved in radio and television broadcasts. In 2010, he sang the UEFA Champions League Final Anthem at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.

In 2016, Flórez performed as a guest soloist at the Last Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall. Later, he made his debut in Massenet’s Werther in Bologna, Italy, and returned to the role in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2017. A critic from Diapason magazine praised his performance, calling it a triumph and noting his skill in phrasing, tone, and poetic expression.

Voice

Flórez's voice parts, including his head and chest registers, blend smoothly without any noticeable break during the transition between them. Decorative musical elements, such as trills, are performed accurately, and mistakes like unnecessary breathy sounds are rarely made. His skill in complex singing, shown in roles like Idreno from Semiramide and Corradino from Matilde di Shabran, has been praised by many music critics.

Awards and distinctions

Flórez has been honored by his home country with many awards and recognitions. In May 2004, he was given the Order of Merit by the Mayor of Lima. He also received the Orden al Mérito por servicios distinguidos in the rank of Gran Cruz from President Alejandro Toledo. Additionally, he was named an Honorary Professor at San Martín de Porres University. On June 4, 2007, he was awarded the highest honor in Peru, the Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Sun of Peru, by President Alan García. In 2012, he became an Austrian Kammersänger. Flórez was featured on a 2-sol stamp, which was part of a set of five stamps celebrating modern Peruvian musicians, released on November 29, 2004. It is rare for a living opera singer to be honored in this way in their home country, especially at such a young age (Flórez was 31 at the time). The image of Flórez on the stamp was taken by British photographer Trevor Leighton and also appeared on the cover of his 2003 CD Una Furtiva Lagrima.

From the world of classical music, Flórez has received several awards, including the Premio Abbiati 2000 (given by Italian critics for 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 of La sonnambula at La Scala.

In 2009, Flórez was nominated for the Best Classical Vocal Performance at the 52nd Grammy Awards for his album Bel Canto Spectacular (Decca).

Personal life

Flórez married Julia Trappe, a German-born Australian, in a civil ceremony on April 23, 2007, in Vienna. A religious ceremony was held at the Basilica Cathedral in Lima on April 5, 2008, and attended by important people in Peru, including President Alan García and author Mario Vargas Llosa. Flórez was present when his son, Leandro, was born in April 2011, less than an hour before Flórez performed on stage in Le comte Ory, a performance broadcast live globally from the Met. His daughter, Lucia Stella, was born in January 2014 at the family home in Pesaro, Italy.

Roles sung on stage

Opera: I Puritani – Character: Arturo
Opera: La Sonnambula – Character: Elvino
Opera: Norma – Character: Pollione

Opera: Les Pêcheurs de Perles – Character: Nadir

Opera: Don Pasquale – Character: Ernesto
Opera: Elisabetta – Character: Conte Potoski
Opera: L'Elisir d'Amore – Character: Nemorino
Opera: La Fille du Régiment – Character: Tonio
Opera: Linda di Chamounix – Character: Carlo
Opera: Maria Stuarda – Character: Leicester
Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor – Character: Edgardo

Opera: Armide – Character: Le Chevalier Danois
Opera: Orphée et Eurydice – Character: Orphée (concert performance)

Opera: Roméo et Juliette – Character: Romeo

Opera: Il Tutore Burlato – Character: Anselmo (concert performance)

Opera: Werther – Character: Werther

Opera: L'Étoile du Nord – Character: Georges
Opera: Les Huguenots – Character: Raoul

Opera: Nina, o sia, la pazza per amore – Character: Lindoro

Opera: Gianni Schicchi – Character: Rinuccio

Opera: Il Barbiere di Siviglia – Character: Conte di Almaviva
Opera: La Cenerentola – Character: Don Ramiro
Opera: L'Italiana in Algeri – Character: Lindoro
Opera: Matilde di Shabran – Character: Corradino
Opera: Il Signor Bruschino – Character: Florville
Opera: Semiramide – Character: Idreno
Opera: Le Comte Ory – Character: Comte Ory
Opera: Otello – Character: Rodrigo
Opera: La Donna del Lago – Character: Giacomo V
Opera: Il Viaggio a Reims – Character: Libenskof
Opera: Zelmira – Character: Ilo
Opera: Guillaume Tell – Character: Arnold
Opera: Ricciardo e Zoraide – Character: Ricciardo

Opera: Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze – Character: Fadinard

Opera: Falstaff – Character: Fenton
Opera: Rigoletto – Character: Duke of Mantua
Opera: La Traviata – Character: Alfredo

Discography

• Alahor in Granata by Donizetti. Conductor: Josep Pons. CD: Almaviva, 1999
• Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini. Conductor: Ralf Weikert. CD: Live performance (1997), Nightingale Classics, 2004
• Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini. Conductor: Gianluigi Gelmetti. DVD and Blu-ray: Live performance (2005), Decca, 2005
• Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini. Conductor: Antonio Pappano. DVD: Live performance (2009), Virgin Classics, 2010
• La Cenerentola by Rossini. Conductor: Carlo Rizzi. CD: Live performance (2000), Rossini Opera Festival & Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pesaro, 2001
• La Cenerentola by Rossini. Conductor: Patrick Summers. DVD: Live performance (2008), Decca, 2009
• Le Comte Ory by Rossini. Conductor: Jesus Lopez-Cobos. CD: Live performance (2003), Deutsche Grammophon, 2004
• Le Comte Ory by Rossini. Conductor: Maurizio Benini. DVD: Live performance (2011), Virgin Classics, 2012
• Don Pasquale by Donizetti. Conductor: Maurizio Benini. DVD and Blu-ray: Live performance (2006), Decca, 2007
• L’Étoile du Nord by Meyerbeer. Conductor: Wladimir Jurowski. CD: Marco Polo, 1997
• Falstaff by Verdi. Conductor: Riccardo Muti. DVD: Live performance (2001), EuroArts, 2003
• La Fille du régiment by Donizetti. Conductor: Riccardo Frizza. DVD: Live performance (2005), Decca, 2006
• La Fille du régiment by Donizetti. Conductor: Bruno Campanella. DVD: Live performance (2007), Virgin Classics, 2008
• Matilde di Shabran by Rossini. Conductor: Riccardo Frizza. CD: Live performance (2004), Decca, 2006
• Matilde di Shabran by Rossini. Conductor: Michele Mariotti. DVD: Live performance (2012), Decca Classics, 2013
• Mitridate by Mozart. Conductor: Christophe Rousset. CD: Decca, 1999
• Nina, o sia La pazza per amore by Paisiello. Conductor: Riccardo Muti. CD: Ricordi, 2000
• Orphée et Eurydice by Gluck. Conductor: Jesus Lopez-Cobos. CD: Live performance (2008), Decca, 2010
• Orphée et Eurydice by Gluck. Conductor: Michele Mariotti. DVD: Live performance (2018), Classart Clasic (2018)
• I puritani by Bellini. Conductor: Michele Mariotti. DVD: Live performance (2009), Decca, 2010
• Rigoletto by Verdi. Conductor: Fabio Luisi. DVD: Live performance (2008), Virgin Classics, 2010
• Semiramide by Rossini. Conductor: Marcello Panni. CD: Nightingale Classics, 2001
• La sonnambula by Bellini. Conductor: Alessandro de Marchi. CD: Decca (2008)
• La sonnambula by Bellini. Conductor: Evelino Pidò. DVD: Live performance (2009), Decca (2010)
• La traviata by Verdi. Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Streaming video: Live performance (15 December 2018), Met Opera on Demand (2019)
• Il tutore burlato by Martin y Soler. Conductor: Miguel Harth-Bedoya. CD: Bongiovanni, 1995
• Zelmira by Rossini. Conductor: Roberto Abbado. DVD and Blu-ray: Decca, 2012

• Cantatas Vol.2 by Rossini. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly. CD: Decca, 2001
• Messa Solenne by Verdi. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly. CD: Decca, 2000
• Stabat Mater by Rossini. Conductor: Gianluigi Gelmetti. CD: Agora, 1998
• Le tre ore dell’agonia del Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo by Niccolò Zingarelli. Conductor: Pierangelo Pelucchi. CD: Agora, 1995

• 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 by Bellini, Donizetti. Conductor: Riccardo Frizza. CD: Decca, 2003
• Great Tenor Arias by 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 by Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini. Conductor: Roberto Abbado. CD: Decca, 2007
• Bel Canto Spectacular, Bellini & Donizetti arias & duets. Conductor: Daniel Oren. CD: Decca, 2008
• Celebración – 2010 Opening