Juan Diego Flórez is a Peruvian operatic tenor born 13 January 1973 in Lima, the son of a guitarist and singer of Peruvian criolla music. He studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Lima before receiving a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he trained from 1993 to 1996 under the mentorship of fellow Peruvian tenor Ernesto Palacio. He made his professional breakthrough in 1996 at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, stepping in as the lead in Matilde di Shabran at short notice, and quickly established himself as one of the finest interpreters of the bel canto repertoire of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti.

Renowned for the ease and brilliance of his high register, Flórez broke a 74-year tradition against encores at La Scala in 2007 by repeating “Ah! mes amis” from La fille du régiment, and repeated the feat at the Metropolitan Opera the following year. He has recorded for Decca since 2001, releasing acclaimed recital albums including Una furtiva lagrima and Sentimiento Latino, and was named a Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Sun of Peru, his country’s highest honor, in 2007. An Austrian Kammersänger since 2012, he continues to expand into more lyric roles such as Massenet’s Werther while remaining one of the world’s leading Rossini tenors.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Diego_Fl%C3%B3rez