Zarzuela (CD) – Juan Diego Flórez

Composers: Various
Artists: Juan Diego Flórez, Orquestra y Coro Juvenil Sinfonía por el Perú
Conductor: Guillermo García Calvo
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Flórez
Release Date: September 7, 2024

Multi award-winning Peruvian-Austrian tenor Juan Diego Flórez has now founded his own label, and the first album of the label to be released is dedicated to the zarzuela genre. It also marks the star tenor’s first recording with Sinfonía por el Perú Youth Orchestra and Choir, an organization that forms part of the social project he founded and supports. 

This first recording is led by conductor Guillermo García Calvo. Juan Diego Flórez has made a name for himself as a bel canto specialist. By turning to zarzuela, he returns to the genre with which he opened up the world of opera as a young singer and composer of popular songs. 

“These romances full of passion and emotion represent an almost unique opportunity for Spanish and Latin American tenors to sing in their mother tongue,” he says, describing his close connection to this Spanish form of opéra comique or operetta, which is very well-known and popular in the Hispanic world but less represented in other countries. 

By founding his own label, Juan Diego Flórez pursues the goal of documenting his artistic visions in a self-determined way: “This recording certainly fills me with happiness and pride. Firstly, because it represents my first recording with the Youth Orchestra and Choir of Sinfonía por el Perú – a social movement that seeks to improve the lives of Peruvian children and youngsters through the collective practice of music. Secondly, because it was done in Lima, my hometown, and thirdly because it constitutes the launch of my own record label.”

Read More