Interview, Juan Diego Flórez on 'Italia!'

Over the past fifteen years the Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez has reigned supreme in the high-wire bel canto repertoire of Bellini, Donizetti and in particular Rossini - but for his latest recording project with Decca he's taken a rather more unbuttoned approach with a glorious collection of popular Italian songs made famous by the likes of Pavarotti and Caruso

This disc positively exudes sunshine - my copy landed on my desk the day after I returned from holiday and banished my post-vacation blues in about 30 seconds, so even if you think you've heard enough renditions of 'O sole mio' to last you a lifetime, I can't recommend it highly enough!

I spoke to Juan Diego yesterday afternoon about his personal connections with these songs, the art of 'crossing over' into more popular territory, and the challenges involved in navigating vocal changes over the years…

What sort of a role has traditional and popular music played in your career so far?

Well, a lot, because before my seventeenth birthday I just listened to pop music and traditional Peruvian music, so it was a great deal of my background…and it was when I entered the National Conservatory of Music [in Lima] that I really got with classical music solely, especially when I joined the National Choir to sing these very important classical works that really marked my musical vocation for the future.

Do you feel a special connection with Italian song, either personally or professionally?

Oh yes! Italian songs are always such a part of the tenor repertoire…everybody sings Italian songs! – it becomes like an appendix to the opera arias in a way. These songs were written for the greatest tenors of the time (for Caruso, I think, with ‘O sole mio’), so they are very, very lyrical in the sense that they are technically difficult and really need to be sung with an operatic voice. In a sense they need the same technique [as bel canto] but in terms of style…not so clinically!

When I was a student, I didn’t have any money so I sang, with my guitar, and I needed to sing something that everybody knows! ‘O sole mio’ is known by everybody, 'Torna a Sorrento', 'Marechiare'…all these songs are so much in our DNA, everybody’s DNA, because everybody knows the melodies. And when I was in the conservatory in Peru and had a party with friends, and I would sing maybe 'Torna a Surriento' or ‘O sole mio’, everybody would know it and be like ‘Sing that one!’ Sing that one’! My grandmother was also a fan of those songs, she played the piano and she played 'Torna a Surriento' – ALWAYS! She was always telling me [imitates grandmother’s voice!] ‘Torna a Surriento! Torna a Surriento!’

We hear you’re quite an accomplished guitarist! Did you have a hand in the arrangements on the disc (or even perform!)?

A very little bit..! With the guitar solos I have helped, in a way, to make the arrangements…and there’s one song ‘Canzone dell’amore’, which I dedicated to my daughter whose name is Lucia – the refrain goes ‘Sol per te, Lucia’! But I didn’t really do my own arrangements as such!

You last recorded a collection of popular songs (Sentimiento Latino) nearly ten years ago – do you feel your voice has changed much since then?

I think you can hear it, listening to both records, I do think there’s a bit of a change: it’s now more full at the centre and this is inevitable as [the voice] matures…Everything gets lower! Everything drops! But the key point is to maintain the technique, keep it working, through those changes, and above all to still feel the repertoire that made you known – that’s so very, very important. And this in a way doesn’t happen with other instruments…yes, as you get older muscles get less flexible (for a violinist, they may become not so crisp and not so fast), but with the voice it changes also the sound, because even when we talk we’re going through a process…

On a more general note, what’s next?! Your last CD of operatic arias included more lyric Romantic roles – will you be taking any of these on on stage any time soon?

Yes – in fact I’ve already done [Gounod’s] Roméo in Lima, in Jan and Feb in Vienna…along with also [the Duke in] Rigoletto, and I will sing Werther next year in Bologna and Paris, and I will be singing Les Huguenots (which is not on my CD) in French, in Berlin. So yes, quite a bit of more Romantic repertoire!

And you’ve recently had a great success as Gluck’s Orphée in London – might more classical repertoire play a part in your future? More Gluck, perhaps, or even Mozart..?

Yes! I would like to…I always could have done Mozart, but I didn’t because I was more requested for the bel canto [laughs]! Actually I was requested for both, but the Mozart tenors are always in a way a secondary role, and in bel canto usually a primary role…but I think I would love to begin now with Mozart, because Why not?! Similar with Gluck: I loved doing the Gluck [his recent Orphée at Covent Garden], experiencing that high Classical repertoire.

One final question (from my colleague James!): even with a voice that sits as high as yours does, do you still experience anxiety about approaching those nine top Cs in La fille du régiment?!

Well I actually would really like to schedule another Fille du régiment - for a while I didn’t want to do it because I’ve done it SO much! – but I feel I can still sing it, I sing the arias in concert a lot. Yeah, it’s still in my voice, still there!

You can view Juan Diego Flórez's complete available discography here.

Recent and related recordings from Juan Diego Flórez