Living in Peru : your everyday companion

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

In a simple but significant ceremony, Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez presented a stamp honoring his friend Luciano Pavarotti.

Very moved, the national tenor recalled the moment he met Pavarotti for the first time, and how friendship arose between the two of them.

"In summer 2002 I was in Pesaro, and a friend of mine who knew Pavarotti asked me if I wanted to meet him, and I said yes. I went delighted, along Ernesto Palacio, and Pavarotti was there, waiting for us, somehow sleepy. His Peruvian assistant, his right hand, woke him up. I was very excited to be in front of him," said Juan Diego.

"In a certain moment Pavarotti said he wanted to hear me singing, and I did. It seems he liked it, because he was delighted," Florez recalled.

"Some time afterwards in an interview at El Pais from Spain, Jesus Ruiz Mantilla asked Pavarotti about new talents, and Pavarotti named my name. My sister read the interview and called me. I couldn't believe it," added Juan Diego.

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