Peru's Peak Performer

At 33, Juan Diego Flórez Is at the Summit of Bel Canto Singing

Juan Diego Flórez at the Kennedy Center, where he sings in the Washington National Opera's "L'Italiana in Algeri." (By Karin Cooper -- Washington National Opera)

This weekend, tenor Juan Diego Flórez is to make his debut with the Washington National Opera. The 33-year-old singer fills the role of Lindoro in Gioacchino Rossini's "L'Italiana in Algeri" ("The Italian Girl in Algiers"), a comic opera about the escape of a loving couple from the clutches of an iron-fisted if benighted dictator. Flórez is part of a cast that includes the Russian husband-wife duo of Olga Borodina as the heroine Isabella and Ildar Abdrazakov as Mustafa, the dictator. Since his much-heralded breakthrough performances in Italy a decade ago, Flórez has become one of the most sought-after bel canto singers in the world, highly regarded for his sweetly focused, quicksilver voice. Though now residing in Italy, the singer maintains close ties with Peru, where he was born and began his early musical studies. Decca recently released his third album, "Sentimiento Latino," a collection of Peruvian and Latin American popular songs, and the country also issued a national stamp in his honor.

Last Monday during rehearsals at the Kennedy Center Opera House, the singer sat for a backstage interview with Washington Post contributor Daniel Ginsberg.

Q Please talk about the role of Lindoro. Is he a very complicated figure? Is Rossini generous to the character musically?

AThis is a very generous role singing-wise. He has two great arias. . . . The second aria, "Concedi, concedi amor pietoso," is musically beautiful and very demanding, like the first. . . . Acting-wise, it's not so demanding. He's a simple guy and he doesn't have to do much. . . . It's maybe one of the Rossini operas that have more beautiful and difficult music for the tenor. . . . It's very high and airy -- very light.

How did you come to focus so much on the operas of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini? What attracts you to the bel canto repertoire?

I think it's my voice. You have a voice that fits a certain repertoire, and my voice fits the bel canto repertoire, especially Rossini.

It's a light, lyric tenor voice that's very agile. It has a lot of flexibility so it can sing all that is demanded from Rossini, especially the coloratura -- the runs -- the high notes, the jumps and very long phrases. And also, it works not only in the virtuoso stuff, but also in the legato and the chiaroscuro, the shading of every phrase.

Do you hope to expand into the more dramatic roles of Verdi or Puccini?

I am happy with what I sing. The goal is to keep that repertoire.

I think you are born with a voice and you keep that voice. You might lose flexibility and that might move you to another repertoire because you cannot sing more high notes and other things that are lost with age. My purpose is to keep the characteristics of my voice that have made me, in a way, important in the world of opera. . . . You achieve that by sticking to your repertoire. You can add other operas, but you have to know that they are good to your voice.

Keeping a good technique helps. I am always trying to be better. . . . I am very perfectionistic and a strong critic of myself. I think that it helps me to be always updated . . . not only in technique but also in interpretation, in acting. . . . Keeping the voice fresh is very good.