3
Juan Diego Flórez... Quote. Unquote.
Juan Diego Flórez on his La Scala debut in Gluck's Armide (in Classic FM
Magazine, April 2002)...
"I was only in the second cast, but Muti rehearsed with me a lot - he seemed to like the way I was doing it. Then, in the interval of the general rehearsal, he told me I would sing the opening night. Looking back now, I think, wow! But then, I just said "OK". I wasn't really
thinking. Coming from another world, as I did - not a real student of opera like others I studied with - I didn't know how important it all was. Sure I had nerves, but not knowing some things makes you more relaxed."
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Michael White of The Independent on Flórez's Rodrigo in the Royal Opera
House's production of Otello, February 2000...
"Monday's audience adored him. Too bad Desdemona doesn't follow suit. If there was ever an Otello where she picks the wrong man, this is it."
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Luciano Landolfi in Prometheus on Flórez's performance in Rossini's
Stabat Mater, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, 14 November 2001...
"Dal canto loro, i solisti hanno fatto sfoggio di una tenuta vocale di tutto rilievo. In specie Flórez che, ineguagliabile tenore rossiniano del momento, ha mostrato ineccepibile linea interpretativa provvista dello sfolgorante re bemolle sopracuto previsto dalla cadenza finale del Cuius animam"
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Leighton Kerner in Opera News, April 2002 on Flórez's Met debut in The Barber of Seville...
"He has everything Almaviva needs. The voice is on the light side, but it carries easily through a house as big as the Met. Agility is no problem for him, and he uses it with taste as well as confidence. At this performance, he decorated 'Ecco ridente' with restraint, but in the final scene's rarely sung 'Cessa di più resistere' -- the already long, murderous early version of Angelina's grand finale in La Cenerentola -- Flórez dazzled the audience with his technical arsenal, his poise, his temperament, his range and his ceaselessly silvery sound. Singing aside, he's also a handsome devil, a deft comedian and a dancer of some
classical accomplishment."
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Octavio Roca in The San Francisco Chronicle, 20 January 2002 on the Rossini
Arias CD...
"...the young Peruvian at his best brings to mind the elegance of Alfredo Kraus and the sheer vocal glitter of Nicolai Gedda. Exquisite breath control, good sense of legato and breathtaking coloratura divisions are all here, as is a humanity that is simply a gift. This is one thrilling debut."
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George Follett of RedLudwig.com, 29 March 2002, on the Rossini Arias CD...
"The demands that Rossini created for his tenors were formidable indeed. In addition to prodigious technical flourishes and vast ranges of emotional expression, his music called for that extra bit of bravura that cannot be taught but instead must be felt and conveyed. Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez is equal to the tasks at hand. On this CD, he doesn't sing these arias drawn from Rossini's operas as much as he ravishes them. There's really no other way to describe the passion he pours into 'Ah dov'e, dov'e il cimento' from Semiramide or his diabolical way with 'Che ascolto' from Otello. And on the climactic sections of 'Cessa di piu resistere' from Il barbiere di Siviglia and 'S'intessano agli allori...Terra amica' from
Zelmira, Florez bursts forth with high notes that threaten to go up in flames."
Zelmira, Florez bursts forth with high notes that threaten to go up in flames."
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Roberto Oddo, in a review of Rossini Arias for Prometheus, 4 March
2002...
"... la modulazione ricca, la cura nell'evitare il falsetto nei passi più vertiginosi, la tecnica sicurissima che deve solo cimentarsi col canto sulla scena per diventare perfetta, tutti questi aspetti lo renderebbero solo un virtuoso, e i virtuosi interessano una fetta tutto
sommato marginale dei melomani. L'aspetto più interessante, a nostro avviso, dell'arte di Juan Diego Flórez è la bellezza del timbro, virile quando serve, ma dolcissimo, sensuale, ricco di un abbandono che in Rossini noi non avevamo mai sentito. Flórez è un tenore "gentile", garbatissimo, cui mal si addice l'impeto guerriero, la competizione da
tenzone lirico: splendido, senza riserve, il registro medio, ricco e chiaro, e ottima la dizione."
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This page was last updated on: February 28, 2007
