BACKGROUND ARTICLES
California and Canada, May-June 2003
Oro de Perú, La Opinión, 11 May 2003
El tenor peruano Juan Diego Flórez busca un lugar entre los grandes, CNN, 23 May 2003
Tenor Florez has opera world abuzz, Contra Costa Times, 5 June 2003
Our Interview with Prince Charming, KDFC, 2 June 2003
Handsome heart throb is an opera phenom, Vancouver Sun, 16 June 2003
Tenor's sensational rise is a real Cinderella story, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 June 2003
La elegancia lírica de Juan Diego Florez, La Nacion, 6 June 2003
_______________________________________________________________
Oro de Perú
Damián Kessler, La Opinión, 11 May 2003
Aunque las comparaciones sean odiosas, ya hay muchos que dicen que Juan
Diego Flórez sigue los pasos de los grandes maestros del canto lírico como
Luciano Pavarotti, Tito Schipa y Alfredo Kraus.
A los 30 años, y con dotes de galán,
Juan Diego Flórez se está abriendo
paso en el campo del canto lírico;
muchos ya lo consideran para el puesto
de 'Cuarto Tenor'. (Foto: Trevor Leighton)
Es que desde su debut oficial -tan inesperado como fortuito- en la ópera
Matilde di Shabran en el Festival Rossini de Pesaro, Italia, en 1996, este
joven tenor peruano se ha convertido en uno de los más requeridos por las
casas de ópera internacionales.
"Yo formaba parte del coro, pero el tenor Bruce Ford cayó enfermo y se vio
forzado a cancelar su presentación. Entonces me preguntaron si quería
participar en lo que sería una especie de [estreno] mundial, ya que muy
pocas veces antes se había hecho esa ópera. Llamaron a medio mundo y nadie
quería cantar un papel del cual no existía una grabación previa, un
antecedente para estudiar. Además, había muy poco tiempo para aprender la
parte, menos de dos semanas".
"Sin embargo, yo tenía tantas ganas de hacerla que dije que sí, sin siquiera
mirar la partitura. Luego me di cuenta de lo difícil que era, pero ya estaba
subido a ese tren que por suerte me llevó a cantar al teatro La Scala de
Milán y a trabajar con [el director] Ricardo Mutti", explicó Flórez
telefónicamente desde Viena, donde el mes pasado interpretó La Sonámbula,
ópera que curiosamente también memorizó con pocos días de anticipación.
"Este papel también me lo tuve que aprender en cinco días debido a otra
cancelación de un tenor enfermo y lo practiqué en el avión que me llevaba a
hacer mi debut en el Covent Garden de Londres. Tener una buena memoria me ha
ayudado a [aceptar] roles que otra persona no se atrevería a hacer. Pero
también hay que tener confianza en uno y en su técnica, porque no es fácil
poner en la voz un rol en pocos días", explicó el tenor de 30 años.
El público de Los Angeles tendrá la oportunidad de escuchar a Flórez cuando
se presente en el concierto y gala Plácido Domingo & Friends este martes en
el Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Este evento anual, en su tercera edición, contará con la presencia de
estrellas de la ópera y de Hollywood cuando se sumen Plácido Domingo, René
Fleming, Denyce Graves, Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson, Hugh Jackman y Audra
McDonald, bajo la batuta del director y compositor John Williams.
"Estoy muy contento de que Plácido Domingo me haya invitado a cantar con él,
no solamente porque es uno de mis ídolos, sino porque es también una gran
persona y porque más de una vez lo he visto sentado entre el público las
veces que me ha tocado cantar", explicó el tenor, quien adelantó que
interpretará Una furtiva lágrima y La fille du regiment en esa velada.
Quien escuche los discos Una furtiva lágrima (arias de Bellini y Donizetti)
o Rossini Arias (en Decca), se dará cuenta que Flórez posee cualidades de
tenor heroico, ése que fácilmente agrada tanto a los que tienen experiencia
como a los que recién se inician en el mundo de la ópera.
Flórez logra un estilo dinámico, ágil y sumamente prolijo al alternar los
diferentes registros de la voz. Su dicción es clara y además posee la
elegancia característica de la difícil escuela de bel canto italiana,
popular en los siglos XVIII y XIX. Quizá, lo que más llame la atención sea
la facilidad y naturalidad con que parece hacerlo.
"Me gusta mucho interpretar Rossini, por ejemplo, porque es un compositor
que exige mucho técnicamente y, sin embargo, a mí no se me hace tan difícil.
"Yo siento que puedo hacer todos los malabarismos vocales que él exige",
explicó Flórez, quien a los 15 años ya tocaba la guitarra y tenía una banda
de rock con la cual interpretaba canciones románticas y de su tierra natal.
Es que él creció en un hogar donde se escuchaba mucha música, ya que su
padre, Rubén Flórez, es cantante de música popular peruana de la zona
costera.
"Siempre tuve esa inquietud de querer cantar mejor, no quería ser solamente
un cantante de pop, quería abarcar más y eso me llevó al Conservatorio
Nacional de Lima cuando cumplí los 17 años de edad. Allí conocí a los
grandes maestros de la música clásica y me di cuenta que mi voz daba para
más", contó.
Inmediatamente, Flórez comenzó a tomar clases de composición, piano, oboe y,
por supuesto, canto. Allí comenzó a destacarse dentro de las voces del coro
del conservatorio y a recibir ofrecimientos para interpretar papeles
solistas y para cantar en bares, hasta que eventualmente llegó la
oportunidad de seguir estudiando en el prestigioso Instituto Curtis de
Filadelfia.
"En esa época no teníamos plata para pagar el pasaje a Estados Unidos y
hacer las audiciones, así que tuve que vender el automóvil de mi madre para
costear los gastos, pero ya se lo devolví", bromeó.
En el Curtis, Flórez conocería a quien luego se transformaría en su mentor y
agente, el tenor peruano Ernesto Palacio. Este le ayudaría a desarrollar el
potencial de su voz usando la técnica de grabarse a sí mismo para poder
escucharse y a partir de allí buscar un sonido pulido, basado en la
simplicidad y claridad de la pronunciación de las vocales.
Si bien el trabajo ha sido fructífero y su corazón, dijo, "está en el
teatro", Flórez admitió que también se entrega a otros placeres de la vida.
Confiesa que le gusta mucho comer (igual que le gustaba a Rossini), cocinar
pescado (una forma de estar más cerca de Lima), escribir arreglos de
canciones populares peruanas para luego poder interpretarlas junto a una
orquesta, montar olas con una tabla de surf y seguir a su equipo de futbol,
el Inter de Milán.
"Ahora no puedo jugar al futbol como antes, pero igual ejercito, porque para
cantar ópera se necesitan músculos, especialmente del diafragma, mucho
control de la respiración, sales minerales y ciertos malabarismos. Cantar
Rossini es como practicar un deporte", dice.
A pesar de tener el calendario lleno hasta el año 2005, Flórez siempre busca
un espacio para viajar, aunque sea una vez al año, a Perú.
"Dicen que nadie es profeta en su tierra, pero yo estoy consciente de que
soy un gran orgullo en Perú y estoy muy agradecido por todo el calor que
recibo de la gente. Los conciertos están siempre llenos y sé que brindo
alegría en un país en que no todas las cosas andan bien", confesó.
Para el público de la ópera actual, el aspecto visual es tan importante como
el auditivo y, aunque él no esté de acuerdo con los que lo consideran un
cantante sexy -"Esa deber haber sido una observación aislada, siempre ha
habido cantantes lindos y feos", dijo-, lo cierto es que Flórez posee
facciones agradables y eso lo ayuda a hacer bien el personaje de tenor
romántico.
Por todas esas cualidades, y a pesar de su corta edad, Flórez, junto a los
argentinos José Cura y Marcelo Alvarez y al francés Roberto Alagna, es el
nombre que se menciona como uno de los nuevos valores que posiblemente
ocuparán al título vacante de "Cuarto Tenor".
"En realidad, lo que llamamos 'Los Tres Tenores' fue solamente un concepto
empresarial para un espectáculo masivo. Ellos ya eran grandes décadas antes
de esas producciones discográficas y de esos conciertos que llenaban
estadios".
"El Pavarotti de los años 60 y 70 fue una de las mejores voces que haya
existido, [José] Carreras posee una voz de terciopelo y Domingo todavía se
encuentra en gran forma y es aún un gran decidor. Por eso, cada vez que
aparece un tenor joven se tiende a compararlo con ellos, pero no hay que
olvidar que siempre han existido muchos y grandes cantantes que provienen de
los distintos lugares del mundo".
El tenor peruano Juan Diego Flórez busca un lugar entre los grandes
CNN, 23 May 2003
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Ya se le compara con los grandes tenores de la lírica
mundial. El peruano Juan Diego Flórez brilla con luz propia, con su voz de
tenor ligero, su refrescante presencia escénica y su capacidad para hechizar
al público.
"Yo hago un repertorio que se podría definir como no tan popular dentro de
lo que es el mundo de la ópera, sobre todo Rossini, Donizetti y Bellini",
apunta el cantante.
"Se podría decir que el repertorio más de moda es Verdi y Puccini, y bueno,
yo me estoy concentrando sobre todo en Rossini. Estoy de alguna manera
suscitando algún interés que de repente antes no había, con un repertorio no
tan popular. Yo creo que esto podría ser como una contribución", agrega.
El inicio de su carrera profesional tiene visos de película.
"Hice una audición para el Rossini Opera Festival en Italia después de
estudiar tres años en Filadelfia", nos cuenta. "Fui a comenzar los ensayos
del Rossini Opera Festival, y la historia fue simpática porque yo tendría
que haber hecho un rol pequeño. Sin embargo, el tenor principal canceló, se
enfermó, y me pusieron a mí a hacer el rol principal, un perfecto
desconocido. Pero eso me ayudó porque fue todo bien, y así comenzó mi
carrera. Un golpe de suerte".
Flórez creció rodeado de música. En su casa siempre se escuchaban las
composiciones peruanas tradicionales.
"La ópera nunca estuvo en mi familia. Yo quise comenzar a estudiar música,
saber tocar el piano, saber tocar la guitarra, y eso me llevó al
conservatorio, y en el conservatorio comencé a estudiar canto y comencé a
mejorar la voz. Me di cuenta que tenía posibilidades y comencé a escuchar
ópera, arias. Me fue gustando la cosa y digamos que me conquistó un poco la
música clásica", explica.
De la misma forma, él está conquistando a las audiencias mundiales amantes
de la ópera y, en especial, a públicos jóvenes.
"Yo creo que también el hecho de ser joven, esto ha ayudado un poco. Por
ejemplo, yo en Internet estaba viendo en unos 'guestbooks', y había unos
comentarios de gente joven que por el hecho de ver a un joven en el
escenario en la ópera les gusta y después se quedan, después vuelven", dice.
Precisamente, gracias a los logros que poco a poco va cosechando, Flórez fue
invitado a participar en un concierto a beneficio de la Opera de Los
Ángeles, organizado por el también tenor Plácido Domingo.
"Plácido Domingo es una persona a la que yo le agradezco, por los
comentarios que él ha hecho, incluso ante cámaras, sobre mí, como joven
talento, y ésta es la primera vez que cantamos juntos, y esto me honra
muchísimo", comenta.
En dicho acontecimiento, participaron también la soprano Renee Fleming y la
mezzosoprano Denice Graves, entre otros destacados artistas.
Con 30 años de edad, Flórez no sólo se ha presentado en los escenarios más
importantes del mundo, sino que también ha grabado dos discos compactos.
"El primer disco significaba mi repertorio, el repertorio con el que nací,
que es Rossini, y con el cual me hice conocido. El segundo CD es un
repertorio que termina de explicar qué cosa canto, principalmente Rossini,
pero también obras de Donizetti y de Bellini, el otro 50 por ciento de lo
que yo hago", señala.
Su segunda producción lleva el título "Una Furtiva Lágrima", mientras que
acaba de finalizar una tercera.
Tenor Florez has opera world abuzz
Georgia Rowe, Contra Costa Times, 5 June 2003
ARRIVING FOR his interview in faded jeans, a tan leather jacket and a crisp
button-down shirt, Juan Diego Florez looks like a movie star. In fact, he's
something much rarer: a true Rossini tenor.
The 30-year-old Peruvian singer is the opera world's latest sensation.
Florez, who makes his Bay Area opera debut Saturday in the San Francisco
Opera's production of Rossini's "La Cenerentola," has been hailed as one of
the finest young singers of his day. Some have even called him the heir
apparent to the great bel canto tenor of the last generation, Luciano
Pavarotti.
It's a suggestion that Florez deflects with modesty and good humor. But it's
clear that, along with such fellow up-and-comers as Salvatore Licitra,
Marcello Alvarez and Ramon Vargas, Florez is at the start of a major career.
"La Cenerentola" is an apt showcase for the tenor's abilities. Rossini's
effervescent retelling of the Cinderella fable is one of the operas -- along
with the composer's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" and "L'Italiana in Algeri" --
on which Florez has made his name. In a recent post-rehearsal conversation
at the War Memorial Opera House, the singer says that Don Ramiro (the
opera's Prince Charming) is a role he loves to sing.
"It's an opera that has given me a lot of satisfaction," said Florez. "The
prince is an important role for me, but it's not as difficult as the others
in Rossini's trilogy -- 'L'Italiana' is more difficult and 'Barbiere' is
longer. Here, there are more rests. But you have to make it credible, and
you have to be totally engaged to make it work. And, of course, it has a big
aria that has to be charged with a lot of energy."
Performing seems to come easily to Florez, and he says he never gets nervous
onstage, whether he's in an opera house or a recital hall.
But he rejects the notion that he's some kind of overnight success. Getting
here, he says, has been a fairly long and arduous process.
Florez was born in Lima in 1973 to a musical family -- his father is a
professional singer in the popular Peruvian valse style, and his mother and
two sisters are amateur singers. Florez began playing guitar at age 11. "I
was singing Peruvian music or rock," he says, "singing and composing my own
songs."
In high school he sang in the chorus, performing in the Spanish-language
zarzuelas that are popular throughout Latin America. His voice emerged from
the ensemble, and Florez was soon singing in Peru's National Chorus. He
started applying to conservatories and universities abroad, and was accepted
at the prestigious Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He studied there for
three years, performing in productions of operas such as "Barbiere," "Il
Viaggio a Reims" and "Die Fledermaus."
A turning point came in 1994, when he met Ernesto Palacio. Florez auditioned
for the tenor -- a star of his own generation -- and Palacio became his
mentor and agent. It was under his guidance that Florez moved to Italy and
made his professional debut.
"Working with him, I was very fast resolving the technical problems I had --
getting my high notes secure," Florez recalls. "I began to understand that I
was especially meant for Rossini. My voice is very agile, I can hit high
notes easily and do runs. But to do that, we worked very, very hard."
Florez got his big break in 1996 at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, Italy.
He was singing in the chorus when another tenor appearing in the cast of
"Matilde di Shabran" canceled. Florez went on, to rave reviews. "After that
many theaters got interested," he says. "Everything happened so fast." He
made his La Scala Opera debut in Milan shortly thereafter, when he was still
22. Roles in Florence, Genoa, Vienna and London followed.
According to Florez, those successes were the building blocks of his career.
"When I hear recordings from then, I think I sing better now," he says. "But
I was OK. It was good -- everything I was doing was at a good standard. And
I always tried to go from one level to the next."
He realized that he was a quick study, with the ability to learn new roles
in as little as five days. He now has 30 roles in his repertory, and like
many top singers, his schedule is filling up years into the future.
Still, Florez isn't entirely comfortable with the notion that he's reached
operatic superstardom. He's bemused by critics who have called him a sex
symbol. "I think they're completely wrong," he says. "A sex symbol is
somebody like Mel Gibson."
And, although he reveres two of the Three Tenors -- his singing heroes are
Pavarotti and Placido Domingo, along with the Austro-Spanish tenor Alfredo
Krause -- he rejects outright the "Fourth Tenor" suggestion.
"Journalists have said I'm 'the new Pavarotti' or 'the Fourth Tenor,'" he
says. "But the Three Tenors was just a concert. It's a brand name. Some
people think that the Three Tenors are the only tenors. But there are lots
of tenors singing around. When they say the Fourth Tenor, what does that
mean? The next at that level, maybe? It's very flattering. But the Three
Tenors were huge stars. Pavarotti was a phenomenon, and that's very
difficult to achieve.
"If you're talking about the Fourth Tenor as someone who can fill stadiums,
I don't think so. Not with my repertoire. Those were different voices,
different repertoire and a different time."
For now, Florez says he's content to keep building his career gradually,
singing roles he's chosen to make his own.
"I've been singing some operas over and over, which I think is very healthy
for the voice," he says. "And I don't get tired of them -- roles like
'Barbiere' and 'La Donna del Lago.' 'Cenerentola,' too. It's always a
pleasure to sing.
"I want to keep working and I'm always wanting to put new roles into my
repertory. But my goal is really to keep being re-invited to the big houses.
That's it for me."
Our Interview with Prince Charming
Polly Moller, KDFC, 2 June 2003
Juan Diego Flórez made his West Coast debut in the San Francisco Symphony's production of Rossini's Stabat Mater, and ever since then, Bay Area fans of the tenor voice have been eagerly awaiting his return.
On June 7th, the award-winning tenor will make his San Francisco Opera debut in Rossini's La Cenerentola. His role as Don Ramiro (better known to American Cinderella fans as Prince Charming) is sure to showcase his voice to perfection. He will also give his very first Bay Area solo recital on Wednesday, June 11 in Berkeley's Hertz Hall.
And as if that weren't enough to excite opera lovers, he has a brand-new album out, Una furtiva lagrima, which is in stores now.
Juan Diego Flórez was kind enough to answer a few of my questions over the weekend.
PS: Congratulations on the release of your new CD! Was it natural to move from Rossini's music, which you're known for, to Bellini and Donizetti for your second album?
JDF: Normally, I sing Bellini and Donizetti so for me it is not really difficult. I just have to make a slight change in my technique, since their music is sung with a fuller voice and the phrases are longer and more legato.
PS: What repertoire do you have planned for your Berkeley recital? Will any of the arias from Un furtiva lagrima be on the program?
JDF: In Berkeley I am singing "Una furtiva lagrima" as well as arias from La fille du régiment and I Capuleti e i Montecchi. I am also singing a Mozart concert aria, Italian songs and Peruvian music.
PS: We know you do some of your own arrangements of music for your recital programs. How does that process work?
JDF: Yes, I enjoy it a lot. Since I was a kid, I liked composing my own songs and arranging any kind of music. Now I enjoy doing arrangements of Peruvian folk songs for piano or orchestra, so I can sing them in my recitals and concerts.
PS: Opera companies, and other arts organizations all over the United States, are enduring loss of revenue and budget cuts in these hard economic times. Has the decline in support for the arts had any effect on your career?
JDF: Not really. Once, because of financial difficulties, a major opera house asked me if I wouldn't mind receiving less money for my fee so I did.
PS: What is your favorite language to sing in? Which one do you find most challenging?
JDF: My favorite is Italian. French is the most challenging because the vowels are not pure.
PS: Other than classical music, what music do you like to listen to?
JDF: All kinds, as long as it's good!
PS: Now that you've returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, do you have any plans for your free time while you're here? Do you have any favorite Bay Area restaurants?
JDF: I've been to Napa and Calistoga. But I prefer to eat in and cook at home.
Handsome heart throb is an opera phenom
Dan Rowe, Vancouver Sun, 16 June 2003
Peruvian sensation Juan Diego Florez has been compared to Pavarotti
It is easy to be modest when you are as good as Juan Diego Florez, the
remarkable Peruvian tenor who will be performing in Vancouver at the Chan
Centre for the first time on Tuesday.
Just 30 years old, Florez has already won major awards (the 2000 Abbiati
Prize handed out by Italian critics and the Rossini d'Oro) for his singing
and has performed in virtually every major opera house with many of the
world's top conductors.
Last year, the Sunday Times Magazine hailed the svelte singer as "the new
Pavarotti."
During a phone interview Thursday, the rising star shrugged off compliments
and queries about everything from his silky smooth vocal style to the
advertising campaign in the city that labels the tall, dark and handsome
Florez a "heart throb."
"Oh, no," he said, after hearing of the posters that can be found on certain
street corners in this city.
"They are going to be very disappointed."
Florez' program of Mozart, Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti is expected to do
anything but disappoint. The Vancouver Recital Society is counting on
superior performance.
Florez has been booked to appear again next season at Vancouver's 2,800-seat
Orpheum Theatre. He is only the third performer to have been booked for a
repeat appearance by the recital society before having performed even once.
(The first was Cecilia Bartoli, who went on to become one of the world's
most celebrated mezzo-sopranos.)
As you might expect, Florez said the second booking was "very flattering."
One explanation for all Florez' modesty could be his sudden and somewhat
unexpected rise to international stardom. Just seven years ago, he had his
official coming out on the international opera stage in Matilde di Shabram
at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy. He was meant to play a small
role, but, fortuitously for Florez, someone fell ill and he stepped in. The
notices for that performance singled him out as someone to watch. The opera
world did not have to wait long.
"Right after that I went to sing at La Scala and I never stopped."
Florez' father was a singer of Peruvian popular music and that rubbed off on
him. "I liked music and since I didn't have a classical background I started
playing guitar and composing my own songs, playing in a rock band and doing
every kind of musical activity. I was always interested in music," he said.
While in high school in the Peruvian capital, Florez had a teacher who would
run small operas at the school.
"I didn't have any technique, but it was my first introduction to lyric
music," he said.
He immediately became interested in the form and he started taking lessons
from that teacher to help develop the basic skills he would need. Florez
went from there to a conservatory in Peru for more lessons and joined Peru's
national chorus.
"It was really there that I got my big experience with classical music --
Bach, Beethoven," he said.
"I was having lessons with my teacher there, also the conductor of the
chorus, and he made me listen to recordings of Mozart operas and Rossini
operas."
At the age of 20, Florez left Peru and went to the United States to audition
for its most prestigious music schools -- including the Juilliard and the
Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he eventually studied. It was in
those first auditions that he got a sense that people thought his musical
ability was special.
"When I auditioned ... the presidents of the schools were so excited. I
didn't know I was that good, but they were offering me scholarships. So I
was impressed a little bit, because I didn't know I was really good," Florez
said.
One of the things that Florez likes best about opera is that it gives him
the chance to act. His favourite operas for that are Barbiere di Siviglia
and Le Comte Ory because of the juicy characters he can sink his teeth into.
(Early in his career, recitals, like the one here on Tuesday, gave him pause
because of his shyness, but he is much more comfortable now.)
At a recent Placido Domingo and Friends concert in Los Angeles, Florez had a
chance to discuss acting with a fellow Latin American (and a heart throb in
her own right), Selma Hayek, who introduced him at the concert. However, he
doesn't think he would ever consider pursuing a career on the screen.
"I like it, but it's another kind of acting ... [Hayek] was saying that
opera singers have a way of acting that is not so natural," he said.
But if there was the right leading lady -- say, Hayek -- could Florez be
convinced to make the move to film?
"She has a boyfriend, right?"
Tenor's sensational rise is a real Cinderella story
Octavio Roca, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 June 2003
Juan Diego Florez is probably too modest to admit it, but as Prince
Charming, he routinely steals the show from Cinderella.
"It's a very small role," said the handsome Peruvian tenor, 30, as he
relaxed in his dressing room at the War Memorial Opera House. "Just one
aria, really. One duet. But it is by Rossini and it is very beautiful. So if
you sing it right, it makes an impression."
Florez sings it just right. And he is making a strong impression in his San
Francisco Opera debut as Don Ramiro, the object of Cinderella's affections
in "La Cenerentola." Although not quite a signature role -- that would be
Count Almaviva in "The Barber of Seville" -- Don Ramiro has proved a
critical and popular success for Florez in major houses from Covent Garden
to the Met.
Although his repertory stretches just beyond the limits of bel canto, from
Gluck to even Verdi ("only Fenton in 'Falstaff,' that's all," he says),
Florez is making his name as the world's leading Rossini tenor: "Otello,"
"Semiramide, " "Il Viaggio a Reims," "La Donna del Lago," "L'Italiana in
Algeri" and the rare "Elisabetta" and "Matilde di Shabran" are under his
belt alongside "Cenerentola" and the "Barber."
It was not always so. He started out singing pop and heavy metal with a band
in his native Lima, covering Led Zeppelin and the Beatles. A whole lot of
love for music of all kinds, however, made the teenager realize he had a
voice that could do more than belt.
Free vocal lessons in his high school chorus, and quick memorizing of
Schubert's plaintive "Ave Maria" and Verdi's fiendishly difficult,
rambunctious "Questa o quella" from "Rigoletto," earned Florez a spot in the
Lima Conservatory at 17. A full scholarship to the Curtis Institute in
Philadelphia followed, as did his meeting the man who would become his
mentor and now his agent: fellow Peruvian tenor Ernesto Palacio.
Florez's first big break in 1996, after three years of study at Curtis,
surprised him as well as the opera world. The Pesaro Festival, an annual
celebration of Rossini in the composer's hometown, was unearthing a Rossini
gem called "Matilde di Shabran." Florez was in town to sing a small role in
Rossini's "Ricciardo e Zoraide," not a bad gig for a 23-year-old newcomer.
Then the lead tenor canceled, someone spotted Florez and basically asked
him, "Can you learn this, kid? Fast."
"I said yes, and I remember I was not so much scared as I was in a trance,"
said Florez. "I prepared the role in a few days, sang it, the public loved
it and frankly I think I was very lucky."
His lucky streak has not stopped. The success in Pesaro led to an invitation
from La Scala to sing the leading tenor role in Gluck's "Armide."
Engagements in Vienna, Paris, London and New York and most recently San
Francisco followed. Florez is booked through 2008, with an exclusive Decca
recording contract that is nurturing a loyal fan base. The revelation of his
all-Rossini debut recital CD recently has been followed by "Una furtiva
lagrima," where Florez makes several Donizetti and Bellini arias his own,
and gently poaches his way into the Three Tenors' turf.
"I am not that kind of tenor," said Florez, who has been dubbed "Little
Luciano" both hopefully and greedily by marketers around the world. Florez
expresses immense admiration for Luciano Pavarotti, but another idol of his
comes to mind when the young Peruvian sings -- the late Alfredo Kraus, whose
career opera watchers see as a possible blueprint for the Florez phenomenon.
"They tell me I sound like Kraus sometimes, especially when I sing in
French," said Florez. "But what else can I sing besides 'La fille du
regiment'? Almost everything else is too heavy for me. I was offered
recently 'The Pearl Fishers,' but I looked at the score and decided to
wait."
Such prudence is rare and wise, and it is a measure of how the music world
has changed in a couple of generations that Florez can afford to have a
career and become a star while remaining true to the limits of his
instrument. To call his voice light does not convey the whole truth, since
it is so impeccably produced that -- like Beverly Sills' soprano or even
Kraus' tenor in another era -- it can fill a vast theater with a
penetrating, gorgeous sound. But the sheer heft required for, say, Verdi and
Puccini is not what Florez has to offer. What he has is a sunny sound that
only grows brighter in the stratospheric heights of Rossini, deployed with
not only the agility but also the sweetness required for the long lines of
Donizetti and especially Bellini.
"In another era, I might have had to sing heavier roles," said Florez,
reflecting on the progression of the tenor repertory. "Cesare Valetti, Luigi
Alva, Kraus -- all were lyric, bel canto tenors who had to sing Verdi. At
the same time, heavier tenors sang Rossini and everyone was used to hearing
bel canto with a lot of the difficult parts cut because the major tenors of
the day could not sing Rossini roles as he composed them.
"Then came a new generation -- Ernesto Palacio, Rockwell Blake -- singers
with great facility and virtuosity" who could hold their own with the likes
of Marilyn Horne, Montserrat Caballe and Joan Sutherland when it came to
vocal fireworks. What makes Florez different from most of these tenors,
including Palacio and Blake, is how he not only has the stamina but also the
ability to create dazzling coloratura runs with clear divisions and dead-on
attacks while never sacrificing vocal splendor. Florez can get through the
musical gymnastics with flying colors, but the sheer sound of his voice only
grows stronger as the musical challenges grow more daunting.
His looks don't hurt, either. Florez is blessed with a dancer's figure that
would be as much at home in Nijinsky's "Faun" as it is in Rossini's
"Barber," and his deep, intense eyes are the stuff of Hollywood stardom. He
may not be the Fourth Tenor, but he is the biggest revelation in bel canto
since Cecilia Bartoli's arrival 10 years ago.
These days, Florez makes all his debuts in Las Palmas, Kraus' home theater
in the Canary Islands. "I feel somehow protected by Kraus' spirit there," he
said. He will sing his first "L'elisir d'amore" in Las Palmas before taking
it to the Los Angeles Opera next year. Was Verdi's "Questa o quella," the
aria that got Florez into the Lima Conservatory, just a tease? Will he take
on a role that, after all, was a signature for Kraus as well as for the
young Pavarotti?
"I probably could sing the Duke," Florez said. "He is a young man, a rake,
with really very light music.
"But it is not for me, not now. I am just happy singing just what I am
singing."
La elegancia lírica de Juan Diego Florez
Martín Liut, La Nacion, 6 June 2003
Exito en Europa
Nueva voz para los amantes del bel canto
Los amantes del bel canto estaban esperando a un tenor que tomara a
Donizetti, Bellini y Rossini como el centro de su repertorio.
La espera terminó en el Festival Rossini de Pesaro de 1996, cuando un
muchacho flaco y con pinta de galán de telenovela que había llegado desde la
remota América del Sur con la idea de hacer las primeras armas en el
circuito europeo se aprendió en menos de una semana la parte de tenor de
"Matilde in Shabran" porque el protagonista se había enfermado.
Con ese golpe de suerte soñado por todos los nuevos cantantes salió
catapultado a la primera línea lírica mundial. El tenor en cuestión acaba de
cumplir los 30, se llama Juan Diego Florez y como se encarga de aclarar,
orgulloso, desde San Francisco, es el cuarto tenor con proyección
internacional de su Perú natal.
Ahora, este admirador de Alfredo Kraus ("por la elegancia y por la
similaridad a mi voz") y Luciano Pavarotti ("por su timbre bello, brillante
y luminoso") tiene compromisos con teatros de todo el mundo hasta 2009. La
prueba de su talento está en que no hay teatro de primera línea que no lo
haya contratado para que protagonice títulos como "Maria Stuarda", "La
sonnanbula", "La cenerentola" y, por supuesto, el "Barbero de Sevilla".
Su agenda y sus tiempos hacen improbable que se lo pueda escuchar en este
Colón que no puede escapar del cortoplacismo, aunque deje la puerta abierta
al afirmar: "El Colón es un teatro en el que, al menos una vez en tu vida,
tenés que ir a cantar".
Como consuelo, comienzan a llegar los discos que el sello Decca edita en la
Argentina (por lo tanto, a precios locales) a través de Universal. En esta
semana se lanzó "Una furtiva lagrima". Se trata en verdad del segundo
trabajo para la compañía. El primero fue, naturalmente, un CD que dedicó a
las arias de Rossini, con la dirección de Riccardo Chailly, un entusiasta
redescubridor de la obra del compositor italiano.
Hijo de un cantante de valses criollos, Florez comenzó su formación en Perú
y la completó en Filadelfia. Fue allí donde comenzó a definir su perfil:
"Afortunadamente hice óperas completas rossinianas". Todo se encaminó cuando
conoció al tenor peruano Ernesto Palacio. El cantante lo escuchó en Lima:
"Me dio consejos y estudiamos juntos varias obras. Mi voz era clara y ligera
y él me dijo que era justamente para este repertorio".
Florez ya tiene aprendido gran parte de este exigente repertorio, lo que le
garantiza mantener una buena salud vocal, clave para una carrera extensa:
"Incluyo una nueva ópera al año. El repertorio más o menos es el mismo; es
positivo porque la voz se salvaguarda", asegura.
Palacio ahora es su manager, algo que para el tenor peruano es de gran
ayuda: "Uno va avanzando en la carrera y los problemas técnicos se van
resolviendo, lo que da espacio para mejorar la interpretación. Pero también
cuando uno canta mucho ciertos roles a veces no te das cuenta de que estás
haciendo errores. Pero Palacio viene a los ensayos y me mantiene alerta".
Relegado durante mucho tiempo a la sombra de la ópera romántica y el
verismo, el bel canto parece regresar con brío a los teatros líricos del
mundo, sostenido por un grupo de directores consecuentes y la llegada de
nuevas voces, como la de Florez. La clave, según Florez, es entender el
estilo, algo que no ocurre en todos los países: "En el norte de Europa lo
hacen sin mucho respeto; el Rossini buffo, por ejemplo, es como si fuera un
cabaret. Pero sin duda es Italia el país donde mejor se hace el bel canto".
¿Qué define este estilo? Florez lo explica con una palabra que también es
válida para él mismo: "Elegancia".
This page was last updated on: June 22, 2003
