Living in Peru : your everyday companion

... but Juan Diego Florez became a tenor. Today he is regarded as one of the best in his profession.
This is a chat protocol about the stresses and strains of his work, the disadvantages of Italian cuisine and classic music.

It’s unbearably hot and humid in Vienna. Peruvian Juan Diego Florez, regarded as the best Rossini-tenor of our time, walks into the air-conditioned hotel suite wearing cowboy boots, jeans and a pink linen shirt. “It’s just unbelievably hot in my room, says the 33-year old. “If I were rich, I would live here”. How convenient that true stars are always surrounded by attentive people who can read their minds. The lady looking after Juan Diego Florez starts working in the background. On several occasions our talk is interrupted by phone calls from the hotel manager. Finally he gets his suite; as a courtesy.

Q: Senior Florez, here in Vienna you live right across from the Opera house. Is this what makes it a great hotel - short ways?

JDF: Of course it’s an advantage – especially when you have to travel as much as me. Recently I bought a house in Pesaro so I can at least live there on location during the perennial Rossini-festival. I am very happy about my new house. It is located at the water, in a remote area of Pisaro. I only see my house in Bergamo very rarely.

Q: In other words, you will not turn your back on the festival responsible for your international breakthrough in 1996 with your performance in Rossini’s “Matilde di Shabran”?

JDF: Since 1996 I have performed every year in Pisaro. Only this August I am taking a break. For me, owning a house close to the location of a gig means above all that I am able to cook. The biggest disadvantage of a hotel -even the best- is that I cannot cook there, which means that I can’t invite my friends over for a home cooked meal.

Q: How important is cooking for you as a singer?

JDF: Immensely important! I love it to cook complicated meals; it allows me to get a grip on my mental perplexity. When I cook I can focus better, it helps me to concentrate and soothes my soul. Complicated cooking means, for example, preparing an Italian-Peruvian dish. Italian food tastes good also, but is too simple to cook; not complicated enough. Besides, normally it doesn’t take very long.

Q: So cooking is some sort of meditation for you?

JDF: Exactly. For me, cooking a complex meal to perfection comes close to my perception of perfect relaxation. It may sound paradox, but it is also some sort of training, because perfection means the elimination of all mistakes. It requires total concentration, just like singing, the difference is that strangely I don’t have to strain myself.

Q: You can’t suppress thinking about work?

JDF: I guess. Because my profession doesn’t allow any mistakes, I am constantly thinking about my score, day in day out. A moment of peace and quiet – and I catch myself reading notes in spirit. Receiving many offers doesn’t make it any better. Every single offer can be a right or wrong move for my career. You don’t easily reject an offer- and I also don’t accept one blindly. Going to a nice restaurant after a day’s work is not really a good counterbalance, it doesn’t compensate as much as self-cooking.

Q: How important is cooking in good company for you?

JDF: Very important. Back in Peru there was always someone who brought his guitar. Sooner than later we started singing Peruvian folk, ballads, and rock songs. Eating, drinking, cooking and singing always belong together, especially in my family. My father, Rubén, is a well known Peruvian folk singer. To be honest, since my family has spread in all kinds of directions, all over the world, I really miss our happy, sentimental gatherings.

Q: Were you already drawn to classic European music back then?

JDF: Honestly, no. In fact there are only a few Peruvians interested in classic music.

Q: Why? Are there no opera houses?

JDF: We had one in Lima some time ago. Well, actually it was more like a music theater and it was destroyed in large fire in 1997. Since then classic music is only performed in a small theater intended for other purposes. There is no tradition for classic music in my homeland, especially for operas. This is why my first opera experience was not in the audience but rather as a choir singer on stage. I was eighteen years old. For a long time I saw operas from the perspective of a performer and very rarely from the one the audience has.

Q: So everything was a matter of fate?

JDF: I wanted to become a rock star and thought it was great idea as a foundation for my singing career. Then I went to a conservatorium where I began to realize what opera music is all about.

Q: The saying goes: “opera is the art of exaggeration, an altogether artificial form of art”. Is that your opinion as well?

JDF: Opera turns into something supernatural when the elements music, singing, and acting are linked together effortlessly. Opera has always been arranged in a way to have the best possible effect on the audience; it has always been the most spectacular of all art forms; and at the same time is very artificial. With “Bel Canto”, the kind of world I live in – Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini – the sound of voice is accompanied by the orchestra. Coloraturas are complex and decorated, requiring the highest level of virtuosity especially for the higher notes because the voice is superior to the music.
With Verdi and Puccini, voice and music are on a whole different competition level; it is not important to impress with your voice. The voice almost becomes an acting vehicle to express a certain dramatic atmosphere.

Q: When you sing, you play an acting role?

JDF: Of course; and always the same role. All roles written for tenors are romantic. We are always lovers and seducers. Honestly, they are appreciative roles; especially for a Latin like me.

Q: Do you feel more romantic when you sing?

JDF: Sure. I have to put myself into the position of the character. Nevertheless one cannot forget: singing is a method and hard work. Your body is under constant stress. You have to be able to accentuate your voice in a hall without amplifier. When you sing at “The Met” in New York you have to ‘survive’ 3500 observers. In addition you have to have to remain authentic and play your part believably. That’s the difficulty compared to classic theater. Here, the actor can blossom with his part in a whole different way, because he talks and doesn’t have to sing.

Q: How do you see the current trend that every opera receives a modern interpretation?

JDF: Operas are performed for centuries; why not making a change here or there or try a different approach?

Q: A gigantic washing machine as the background set of Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”? Is this a change you welcome?

JDF: There are certainly sets that have only the purpose to provoke, to hit someone over the head – and there is nothing else behind it. The principal is clear: directors want to impress and be provocative. When people hear that Calixto Bieito has once again staged a potentially scandalous opera, they will come in droves even if they anticipate that they probably won’t like it.

Q: Do you have an explanation for that? Is the opera perhaps an antiquated art form desperately in need of spectacle?

JDF: Certainly not. I can tell you in all honestly: I sing Rossini over and over and over because I love his music. One should not forget that – although singing the same old arias-, today’s singers are performing in a totally different way, not like singers one or two centuries ago. In my opinion this shows that the opera continues to be an art form that is very much alive, even though it may no longer have the same importance it had in the 18th or 19th century. Just look at the popularity of Mozart in his 250th year of birth.

Q: Not just Mozart; the CDs of the three tenors – Pavarotti, Carreras, and Domingo – are bestsellers. But critics are tearing the recordings apart. Do you think the three have sold themselves out?

JDF: Sold themselves out? These three gentlemen can reflect on an incredible international career, they sang in the most famous opera house with the best reputations. Their decision to hit the market was thankfully rewarded by a million-audience. I always say: Everything of qualitative value is good. This counts for Pop as well; or entertainment in general.

Q: So in your opinion the three tenors are good?

JDF: When they started singing popular melodies they still were tenors who could look back on a long career. Today there are many different kinds of tenors, many of them have never sung an aria or performed in an opera. They can’t do it. They don’t even have a great voice. I was in Germany recently and read somewhere that now we have “the ten tenors”. I can only say that some of them aren’t even real tenors. I don’t even know what to think when they are referred to as tenors.

Q: Do you see yourself as the successor of Pavarotti, Carreras and Domingo?

JDF: Luciano Pavarotti is my idol. Not just because he is one of “the three tenors” but because he sang “Rigoletto”, “Un ballo in maschera”, and “La fille du regiment” like no one else before and after. When Pavarotti referred to me as his successor in a daily newspaper a while ago, the happiness I felt brought me to tears.

(Interview by Sebastian Hammelehle and Max Dax, published in "Die Welt" - translated by Wolfy Becker)

read also:
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Rossini as Extreme Sport – And Great Joy (by Kathleen Watt)

tags : Peru entertainment art culture opera JuanDiegoFlorez Florez tenor Rossini singer

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