Juan Diego Florez tenor

Vincenzo Scalera piano

Jonathan Bolivar guitar

Jocsan Mendoza guitar

Ruben Sanchez cuatro

Victor Fuentes kuijada- percussions

Jose Makado double bass

Laura Valbuena clarinette-saxophone

Tatian Gonzalez bandoneon

Lorenz Raab trumpet

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Flórez dedicates the second half of the concert’s programme to popular Latin-American music from Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina. “This music goes straight to the heart...because it deals with things that affect us all directly, such as home, family, the joy of love and the pain of love,” he explains. Accompanied by an instrumental ensemble composed of piano, guitar, trumpet, and percussion conducted by Jonathan Bolívar,  the celebrated tenor’s stirring performance features a beautiful repertoire of songs, adapting his world-renowned bel canto voice to music so close to his heart.

Juan Diego Flórez was born in Lima in 1973 and began singing and playing Peruvian folk music and pop music at a very early age. He was 17 when he enrolled at Lima’s National Conservatory of Music; three years later he won a scholarship to continue his vocal studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He made his professional stage debut in 1996 at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, stepping in at short notice to sing the leading tenor role of Corradino in Matilde di Shabran.

His expressive voice and astonishing agility made Juan Diego Flórez an overnight sensation and led to his debut later that year (at the age of just 23) launching the new season at La Scala, Milan, under Riccardo Muti. Since then he has appeared at every major international opera house under the world’s leading conductors. His repertoire encompasses more than fifty operas. Having gained particular renown for performances of the bel canto repertoire at the beginning of his career, Juan Diego Flórez has received great acclaim from press and public alike for his recent appearances as French Romantic heroes.

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About the Program

Rossini “La speranza più soave” (Semiramide)

Donizetti “Tombe degli avi miei… Fra poco a me ricovero” (Lucia di Lammermoor)

Massenet Meditation, from Thaïs (piano only)

Lalo “Puisqu’on ne peut fléchir… Vainement, ma bien aimée”, (Le roi d’Ys)

Bizet “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée”, (Carmen)

Gounod “L’amour!... Ah, lève-toi, soleil”

Puccini Foglio d’album (Piano only)

Puccini “Che gelida manina”, from La bohème

Soto “El tamalito”

Galindo “La malagueña”

Díaz “Caballo viejo”

\Méndez “Cucurrucucú paloma”

Gardel “Volver”

Fernández “Guantanamera”