Juan Diego Flórez Tenor

Juan Diego Flórez, who was born in Lima in 1973, began his career at a very early age singing folk music and Peruvian pop. At the age of 17, he began studying music at the National Conservatoire of Music in Peru and three years later obtained a scholarship to study singing at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. In 1996, he made his official debut at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, stepping into the title role in Mathilde di Shabran at the last minute. Despite the lack of rehearsal, his performance was a resounding success and launched his international career. His expressive voice and astonishing agility sealed his reputation and, when he was only twenty-three years old, took him to La Scala Milan for the opening of the 1996 – 97 season under the direction of Ricardo Muti. Since then, he has performed at the most prestigious opera houses and with the most important conductors in the entire world. Back at La Scala in 2007, he broke with tradition and sang a reprise of the aria “Ah! Mes amis” from La fille du Régiment with no fewer than nine top Cs! He repeated this tour de force at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2008, the first time this aria had been encored for many years. Since March 2001, he has been under exclusive contract with Decca and has recorded numerous solo albums as well as CDs and DVDs of operas. He has been acclaimed by the BBC as one of the greatest tenors in the entire history of opera and has received numerous prizes and distinctions including the Grand Cruz de la Orden del Sol, Peru’s highest accolade, and the title of Kammersänger in Austria.

In 2011, he created the Sinfonia por el Perú, a charitable project inspired by the Sistema in Venezuela, supporting orchestras and choirs in his native land in order to help under-privileged children and adolescents. He was appointed ambassador for UNESCO in 2012 and received the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in January 2014.