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Juan Diego Flórez (Born January 13, 1973) is a Peruvian operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in Rossini operas.
Biography
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. 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 which 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 Santa Barbara Academy Summer School. 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 and subsequently became Flórez's teacher and mentor.
Flórez's first big breakthrough and professional debut came at the Rossini Festival in 1996, when at the age of 23 he stepped out of the chorus to take the leading tenor role of Corradino 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 a concert performance (and the first modern performance) of Donizetti's Elisabetta. Debuts followed at the Vienna Staatsoper in 2000 as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi and at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 2002 as Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia.
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-Elysées in Paris, Lincoln Center in New York, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona 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 four solo recital CD's 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; and most recently Sentimiento Latino. In addition to his official discography, almost all his professionally performed roles have been preserved in radio broadcasts, and many also by television.
Juan Diego Flórez has been awarded 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.
Flórez is the possessor of a light lyric tenor voice of exceptional beauty which, while not of great size, is nevertheless audible in even the largest houses due to its unusual harmonic structure. Its compass is two octaves, up to and including the high D natural, the higher part of its range being particularly strong and brilliant, with almost no sense of effort, while the lowest notes are comparatively weak. The head and chest registers are perfectly integrated, with no audible break in the passaggio. Breath control is impeccable, allowing the longest phrases to be sustained with apparent ease. The ornaments of bel canto, including the trill, are well executed, and stylistic errors such as intrusive aspirates generally eschewed. Perhaps the most distinctive technical accomplishment is the singer's total mastery of coloratura to a degree probably not matched by any other tenor who has recorded, and to be heard to best effect in his Idreno (Semiramide) and Corradino (Matilde di Shabran).
Roles Sung On Stage
Bellini
I Capuleti e i Montecchi - Tebaldo
I Puritani - Arturo
La Sonnambula - Elvino
Donizetti
Don Pasquale - Ernesto
Elisabetta - Count Potosky
L'elisir d'amore - Nemorino
La Fille du régiment - Tonio
Maria Stuarda - Leicester
Gluck
Armide - Le chevalier danois
Lehár
The Merry Widow - Camille de Roussillon
Meyerbeer
L'étoile du nord - Georges
Paisiello
Nina, o sia, pazza per amore - Lindoro
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
Il viaggio a Reims - Libenskof and Belfiore
Rota
Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze - Fadinard
Strauss
Die Fledermaus - Alfred
Discography
OPERA
Alahor in Granata Donizetti Conductor: Josep Pons CD: Almaviva (DS 0125) July 1999
Il barbiere di Siviglia Rossini Conductor: Ralf Weikert CD: Live performance (1997) Nightingale (NC00402) October 2004
Il barbiere di Siviglia Rossini Conductor: Gianluigi Gelmetti DVD: Live performance (2005) Decca (074 3111 5 DH2) November 2005 NEW
La Cenerentola Rossini Conductor: Carlo Rizzi CD: Live performance (2000). Rossini Opera Festival e Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pesaro August 2001
Le Comte Ory Rossini Conductor: Jesus Lopez-Cobos CD: Deutsche Grammophon (477 502-0) August 2004
L'Etoile du Nord Meyerbeer Conductor: Wladimir Jurowski CD: Marco Polo December 1997
Falstaff Verdi Conductor: Riccardo Muti DVD (Region 2): DVOPFAL (TDK UK LTD) Live performance filmed in Busseto, 2001
La fille du regimént Donizetti Conductor: Riccardo Frizza DVD: Decca (074 3146) September 2006 Live performance from the Teatro Carlo Felice, February 2005
Matilde di Shabran Rossini Conductor: Riccardo Frizza CD: Decca (002894757688) July 2006 Live performance from the Rossini Opera Festival 2004
Mitridate Mozart Conductor: Christophe Rousset CD: Decca (289 460 772-2) April 1999
Nina o sia La pazza per amore Paisiello Conductor: Riccardo Muti CD: Ricordi (RFCD 2010) July 2000
Semiramide Rossini Conductor Marcello Panni CD: Nightingale Classics (NC 207013-2) 2001
Il Tutore Burlato Martin y Soler Conductor: Miguel Harth-Bedoya CD: Bongiovanni (GB 2175/76-2) October 1995
ORATORIO & SACRED MUSIC
Cantatas, Vol.2 Rossini Conductor: Riccardo Chailly CD: Decca (466 328-2 DH) April 2001
Messa Solenne Verdi Conductor: Riccardo Chailly CD: Decca (467 280-2) December 2000
Stabat Mater Rossini Conductor: Gianluigi Gelmetti CD: Agora (AG 161) July 1998
Le Tre Ore dell'Agonia del Nostro Signore Gesu Cristo Niccolo Zingarelli Conductor: Pierangelo Pelucchi CD: Agora (AG 018) November 1995
RECITAL
Canto al Peru (with Ernesto Palacio) Piano: Samuele Pala CD: Bongiovanni (GB 2529-2) 1997
Rossiniana Rossini Conductor: Manlio Benzi CD: Agora (AG 164) May 1998
Vesselina Kasarova Arias & Duets Rossini Conductor: Arthur Fagen CD: RCA (74321 57131 2) March 1999
Rossini Arias Conductor: Riccardo Chailly CD: Decca 470 024-2 January 2002
Una Furtiva Lagrima Bellini, Donizetti Conductor: Riccardo Frizza CD: Decca (473 440-2 DH) April 2003
Great Tenor Arias Verdi, Gluck, Rossini Conductor: Carlo Rizzi CD: Decca Classics (475 618-7) September 2004
Sentimiento Latino (Spanish & Latin American songs) Conductor: Miguel Harth-Bedoya CD: Decca (475 7576 4 DH) 2006
References
- Ashley, Tim, 'He's got no strings', The Guardian, 14 March 2002
- Canning, Hugh, 'He'll take the high road', The Sunday Times, 11 November 2001
- Cárdenas, Miguel Ángel, 'Un peruano en la Scala de Milán', La República, 1 September 2002
- Ernesto Palacio Artists Management, Official Biography and Repertory List of Juan Diego Flórez
- Segovia, Emilio, 'La formación de un tenor rossiniano', Pro Ópera, November/December 2003
External links
- Official Decca Site
- Ernesto Palacio Artists Management (with official biography, appearance schedule, repertory, and photographs)
- Voce di Tenore (unofficial site)
- Florezidos Juan Diego Flórez Forum
- Juan Diego Flórez Discussion Yahoo! Group
- Fan site in Italian and English