Juan Diego Flórez

Rossini Zelmira

Juan Diego Florez stars in the only available DVD version of Zelmira, filmed at the celebrated Rossini Festival in the composer s home town of Pesaro. The final opera Rossini wrote for Naples is a dramatic and musical tour de force and a magnificent showcase for the bel canto superstar of our time. Recorded in high definition at the 2009 Festival, Giorgio Barberio Corsettis production places the classical tale, set during the Trojan Wars, in modern times and modern dress Joining Juan Diego Florez are a major international cast, described as near miraculous by Opera Today and led by American mezzo-soprano Kate Aldrich in the virtuosic title role But the evening remained another distinguished triumph for Juan Diego Florez as Prince Ilo, whose arrival in his homeland, to rescue Zelmira, was marked by a dazzling tenorial display which evoked a nearly twenty-minute ovation

Rockstar Avilés

Musical documentary dedicated to the first Peruvian guitar, Don Oscar Avilés. It tells the history of the Master through the testimony of family, friends and musicians who had the privilege of being witnesses of part of his 90 years of Peruvian life and 75 of artistic life.

Sinfonía

Three young Peruvians born into extreme poverty begin studying music thanks to a social project spearheaded by tenor Juan Diego Flórez, one of the great talents of contemporary opera. The film follows the lives of Alondra, Diego, and Imanol over three years, revealing how, little by little, music changes their destinies by broadening their horizons and giving them the opportunity to dream of a better future for themselves and their families. A documentary about the power of music education to empower individuals and transform society.

The Metropolitan Opera: La Fille du Régiment

Madcap physical comedy and impeccable coloratura come together for Natalie Dessay’s indelible portrayal of the feisty tomboy raised by a regiment of French soldiers. Juan Diego Flórez is the young Swiss villager who conquers her heart—and a slew of high Cs. Also featuring uproarious performances by Felicity Palmer and Alessandro Corbelli, as well as a cameo by Tony Award winner Marian Seldes, this laugh-out-loud production was a runaway hit that left audiences exhilarated.

Gluck: Orphée et Euridice

Juan Diego Flórez dazzled audiences and critics alike when he played the virtuoso role of Orphée in La Scala’s first ever staging of Gluck’s opera in its French version: “Juan Diego Flórez delivered a lesson in style. His tone is darker and his projection more self-effacing than in the past, but class is permanent. His agility and legato are utterly thrilling. The ovations were never-ending.” (Corriere della sera) The present release is a production by Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London Recorded live at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, March 2018. Gluck’s Orpheo ed Euridice was first performed in 1762. It is the first of Gluck’s “reform” operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera sera with a “noble simplicity” in both the music and the drama. The present production was staged by Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames.

Donizetti: La Fille du Régiment

In January 2007, superstar soprano Natalie Dessay, joined on stage by acclaimed tenor Juan Diego Florez dazzled British audiences in Laurent Pelly's new production of Donizetti's "LA FILLE DU REGIMENT". The perfectly staged & cast production became the operatic event of the year, receiving rave press reviews & rapturous audience ovations.

La Cenerentola - Teatro dell'Opera di Roma

A dramma giocoso at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, set to music by Gioachino Rossini. Libretto by Jacopo Ferretti based on the French libretto by Etienne for Isouard's Cendrillon.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Stage director Emilio Sagi's production of the legendary Barber of Seville is enriched by a bright distribution. Maria Bayo returns to one of her signature role as Rosina, opposite Juan Diego Florez, the Rossini expert tenor. The title role is embodied by the Italian baritone Pietro Spagnoli, while Ruggero Raimondi and Bruno Pratico reconcile the audience with Don Basilio and Don Bartolo.

Rigoletto - Semperoper Dresden

Both Florez and Diana Damrau brought their bel canto expertise and superb vocalism to the service of Verdi's music. The Rigoletto, Zeljko Lucic, ran the gamut from tenderness with his Gilda to thundering fury with everyone else. I also liked the production. At first, when Rigoletto was putting on his grease paint during the overture, I was afraid that it might be a typical "Euro-trash" production, with a bit of warmed over I Pagliacci. But the sets and dramatic action really served the music and libretto. I would have to say that I came to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the story and characters as a result of seeing this performance.

Royal Opera House: La Bohème

Paris, 1900. Penniless writer Rodolfo believes that art is all he needs – until he meets Mimì, the lonely seamstress who lives upstairs. So begins a timeless love story that blooms, fades, and rekindles with the passing seasons. But while the couple’s friends, Marcello and Musetta passionately row and make up, a force greater than love threatens to overtake Rodolfo and Mimì. Richard Jones’s production evokes the vivid contrasts of fin de siècle Paris, from Bohemian apartments to glittering arcades, while Kevin John Edusei, Evelino Pidò and Paul Wynne Griffiths conduct an array of dazzling performers

Bellini: La Sonnambula

Just as a young woman is about to marry her sweetheart, she is discovered—by the entire village, to say nothing of her fiancé—asleep in the bedroom of a stranger. It takes the young man two acts to figure out that sleepwalking is to blame, and everything ends happily. Natalie Dessay as Amina and Juan Diego Flórez as Elvino deliver bel canto magic and vocal fireworks in Mary Zimmerman’s 2009 production. The Tony award-winning director transfers Bellini’s bucolic tale to a rehearsal room in contemporary New York, where an opera company rehearses La Sonnambula—and where the singers are truly in love with each other.

Rossini: La Donna del Lago

An all-star cast assembled for the Met’s first-ever performances of Rossini’s romantic retelling of Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem The Lady of the Lake. Joyce DiDonato is Elena, the title heroine, who is being pursued by not one, but two tenors—setting off sensational vocal fireworks. Juan Diego Flórez is King James V of Scotland, disguised as the humble Uberto, and John Osborn sings his political enemy, and rival in love, Rodrigo Di Dhu. Complicating matters is the fact that Elena herself loves Malcolm, a trouser role sung by mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona, and that she is the daughter of Duglas (Oren Gradus), another of the king’s political adversaries. Paul Curran’s atmospheric production is conducted by Michele Mariotti.

Rossini: Guillaume Tell

The hero of this admirably complete August 2013 Guillaume Tell from Pesaro is homegrown maestro Michele Mariotti. The inimitable overture is (mercifully) unstaged and terrifically played, with splendid cello and flute solos: the fine standard never flags. Rossini’s extraordinary 1829 score audibly presages Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Glinka, Verdi and Wagner, among many others. Graham Vick’s direction privileges class conflict, with a clenched fist on the red-and-white forecurtain. The Edwardian costumes place Austrians in white evening garb; the black-clad Swiss polish the floor while the rulers savor a filming (much of that to follow) — the fisherman Ruodi, in a boat with a blonde and fake scenery, with Tell and his family providing tech support. Vick deploys geographical and historical kitsch liberally but not (always) pointlessly. Ron Howell’s pretentious, mannered choreography, however, beggars belief.

The Metropolitan Opera: La Cenerentola

Rossini’s charming take on the Cinderella story features a brilliant cast, led by bel canto stars Joyce DiDonato in the title role and Juan Diego Flórez as her Prince Charming. Alessandro Corbelli delivers a comic tour de force as Don Magnifico, Cinderella’s stepfather. Pietro Spagnoli is Dandini, the Prince’s valet, who, disguised as his master, puts the prospective brides to the text, and Luca Pisaroni is the philosopher Alidoro, who takes the place of the fairy godmother. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads Cesare Lievi’s whimsical production.

Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Audiences went wild for Bartlett Sher’s dynamic production, which found fresh and surprising ways to bring Rossini’s effervescent comedy closer to them than ever before. The stellar cast leapt to the challenge with irresistible energy and bravura vocalism. Juan Diego Flórez is Count Almaviva, who fires off showstopping coloratura as he woos Joyce DiDonato’s spirited Rosina—with assistance from Peter Mattei as the one and only Figaro, Seville’s beloved barber and man-about-town.

Le comte Ory

Rossini's "Le Comte Ory" tells the story of a libidinous and cunning nobleman who disguises himself first as a hermit and then as a nun in order to gain access to the virtuous Countess Adele, whose brother is away at the Crusades. The 2011 Met production was directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, who presented the action as an opera within an opera, updating the action by a few centuries and giving the costume designer, Catherine Zuber, the opportunity to create some particularly extravagant headgear. Juan Diego Florez starred as the title role while Diana Damrau plays Countess Adele, and Joyce DiDonato was in breeches as his pageboy Isolier. Conducted with verve and finesse by Maurizio Benini, the production also features the stylish French baritone Stephane Degout as Ory's bibulous conspirator Raimbaud, charismatic Italian bass Michele Pertusi as the Count's long-suffering Tutor, and, formidable as Adele's housekeeper Ragonde, the Swedish dramatic mezzo Susanne Resmark.

Faust - Wiener Staatsoper

Méphistophélès, less an intellectual "principle of negation" than a devilishly attractive magician, draws his attention to Marguerite - and Faust is delighted. A deal is quickly struck: the devil serves Faust on earth, and after Faust's death it is to be the other way around. Marguerite is also not unimpressed by what Méphistophélès has to offer: material luxury and sensual pleasure, often musically illustrated by Gounod with a waltz. But the relationship between Faust and Marguerite remains an episode, as Faust is drawn to new attractions, while Marguerite remains pregnant, only to see her unfaithful lover kill her brother.

The Barber of Seville

23-year-old Gioachino Rossini completed his masterpiece IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA incredibly quickly – legend has it in just 13 days – which Rossini attributed to ‘facility and lots of instinct’. The opera, characterized by youthful energy and bold wit, has all the ingredients for comic chaos: an imprisoned young woman, her lecherous guardian and a young noble suitor. Skilfully plotting behind the scenes is Figaro, an irrepressible and inventive character in whom many have seen a resemblance to the young Rossini himself. The score fizzes with musical brilliance, from Figaro’s famous entrance aria to the frenzy of the Act I finale. This recording sees Joyce DiDonato (Rosina) bring literal meaning to the old theatrical motto Break a leg! She did just that in an earlier show but was determined to finish her commitment and was re-staged into the production to allow for the additional challenges that come when a leading lady in a lively physical role must wheel around the other performers...

La donna del Lago

Rossini’s La donna del lago, premièred in 1819 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, is a masterpiece based on the poem The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott, which is full of passion and romantic frisson. “With characteristic boldness, Michieletto reformulates this glittering music into something otherworldly” (Financial Times) and the performance is “musically brilliant” (Die Presse.com). “Marko Mimica and Varduhi Abrahamyan produce strong performances as Douglas and Malcom respectively. Flórez is laser like and fresh as ever and thrilling brutish …” (Financial Times) while the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: “Michele Mariotti and his outstanding orchestra were the stars of the evening.”

Rossini La Cenerentola

This is an excellent version of one of the greatest of all comic operas, featuring superb singing and orchestral playing. And it's not just the two headliners; listen, for example, to the entrance of the stepsisters at the beginning of Act One. Nevertheless, some viewers may find the staging problematic, with singers in clown-like costumes and sets featuring human-sized rodents. Those seeking a more conventional production might want to consider the Houston Grand Opera DVD, also on Decca, with Cecilia Bartoli and Raul Jimenez. Both sets are wonderful, but, for me, Joyce Didonato and Juan Diego Florez are slightly to be preferred. Highly recommended.

Falstaff (La Scala)

Verdi's opera, performed by the choir and orchestra of the La Scala theatre under Riccardo Muti.

Don Pasquale

Juan Diego Florez in another of his great stage roles. Old Don Pasquale (Ruggero Raimondi) wishes to marry and produce an heir, thus disinheriting his nephew Ernesto, who loves the merry widow Norina. Pasquale"s physician Malatesta pretends that Norina is his sister 'Sofronia', and arranges a mock wedding to Pasquale. 'Sofronia' then proceeds to make Pasquale's life a misery.

Gala des Ambassadeurs Rolex

Le grand concert du Philharmonique de Vienne au Palais Garnier

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performed for the first time in its history at the Palais Garnier on May 11, 2025. A centuries-old institution, this orchestra has been the embodiment of musical excellence in Europe and around the world for more than 180 years.