Born in Lima, Peru, tenor Juan Diego Flórez undertook music studies both in his native Lima and at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. In 1996, he made his official operatic debut in Matilde di Shabran at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, where his expressive voice and astonishing agility immediately won him critical accolades. Since then, Flórez has become the tenor of choice in major international concert halls.
Flórez has enjoyed great success in theaters such as La Scala of Milan (Gluck’s Armide, Falstaff, Nino Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La pazza per amore, La sonnambula, L’italiana in Algeri, La Cenerentola), Comunale of Bologna (Il viaggio a Reims, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Fille du régiment, Le Comte Ory, I Puritani), Filarmonico of Verona (L’italiana in Algeri, Barbiere di Siviglia), Opera of Rome (Il barbiere di Siviglia, L’italiana in Algeri), San Carlo of Naples, and Massimo of Palermo… Internationally, Flórez has appeared at The Metropolitan Opera House of New York; Lyric Opera of Chicago; San Francisco Opera; LA Opera; Covent Garden in London; Staatsoper of Vienna; Salzburg Festival; Musikverein of Vienna; Konzerthaus in Vienna; Paris Opéra; Châtelet in Paris; Festival Radio France Montpellier; Deutsche Oper Berlin; Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper; Real of Madrid; Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona; La Maestranza of Seville; Dresden Staatsoper; Opernhaus in Zürich. He has also sung in Moscow, Tokyo, Warsaw, Caracas, Lisbon, São Paulo, Saint Petersburg, Toulouse, Nice, Champs Elysées of Paris, Lyon, and Hamburg alongside some of the best orchestras in the world.
He has sung under the batons of the greatest conductors of our time, including Riccardo Muti, James Levine, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Wun Chung, John Eliot Gardiner, Daniele Gatti, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Neville Marriner, Antonio Pappano, Roberto Abbado, Carlo Rizzi, Nello Santi, Marcello Viotti, Christophe Rousset, Jesùs Lopez Cobos, Michele Mariotti, Alberto Zedda, and Gustavo Dudamel. Juan Diego Flórez’ operatic repertoire ranges from the role of Carlo in Linda di Chamounix by Donizetti to the Comte Almaviva from Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini, passing through the most beautiful arias by Bellini. You can find some of his interpretations in our superb archived video, from Verdi’s Rigoletto to his solo concert on the notes of Mozart’s best arias!
In 2007, he broke tradition at La Scala by singing an encore, the theater’s first in 75 years. This happened in Donizetti’s Fille du régiment with the aria of nine high Cs. The same happened in his concert at The Met in 2008.
The Peruvian tenor’s performances for 2015 were scheduled at La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera House of New York, Covent Garden in London, Staatsoper in Vienna, Paris Opera, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Real of Madrid, Liceu of Barcelona, and Deutsche Oper Berlin. Since March 2001, he has been an exclusive artist for Decca. In December 2016, Flórez made his debut in Massenet’s Werther in Bologna, returning to the role in Zürich in April 2017—the tenor’s performance was acclaimed by the Diapason magazine critic as a triumph, a high demonstration of virtuosity, in accent and phrasing, a sublime example of bel canto at its highest level. In 2023, Juan Diego Flórez performed in recital, accompanied on the piano by Vincenzo Scalera, singing some highlights of his repertoire including the solo from Verdi’s Rigoletto Questa o quella per me pari sono.
Juan Diego Flórez has received some of the most important prizes of the classical music scene: the Abbiati Prize, conferred by Italian music critics, the Rossini d’Oro in Pesaro, Aureliano Pertile’s Prize, the Francesco Tamagno Prize, the International Opera Award Prize, Bellini’s Prize, the ISO d’Oro, and the Plácido Domingo Award. His recordings have garnered many important prizes, such as the CHOC du Monde de la Musique, the ECHO Klassik Preis, and the Cannes Classical Award. In 2009, Flórez was nominated for the Best Classical Performance in the Grammy Awards for his album Bel Canto Spectacular (Decca). In the town where he was born—Lima (Peru)—Juan Diego Flórez has also received the highest honors from the Peruvian government: the Order of Merit from the Mayor of Lima; the Orden del Sol, Gran Cruz; the Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Sun of Peru, in June 2007 by the president. In fact, Flórez has often paid homage to his origins, as can be seen in many documentaries streamed on medici.tv, including his Sinfonia por el Peru alongside The Harmonia Symphony Orchestra.
Flórez married German-born Australian Julia Trappe in a private civil ceremony on April 23, 2007 in Vienna. In April 2011, the Peruvian tenor became a father just after a sensational performance of Le comte Ory in the Met aired live in the world. Three years later, in January, his daughter Lucia Stella, was born in Pesaro (Italy).
