(Credit: © Gregor Hohenberg)

September 20 marked a special day for tenor Juan Diego Flórez.

For decades, the famed bel canto specialist has been almost exclusively releasing albums on Decca Classics, becoming one of the major operatic faces for the label throughout his career. He also worked with Sony Classical for a short period. But the tenor, who in recent years has opened up his repertory in new directions, released a solo album on his very own label, Flórez Records.

The album in question, “Zarzuela,” harkens back to the genre that Flórez championed early on in his career and has turned to intermittently throughout his career.

“I wanted to take my recording legacy into my own hands,” Flórez told OperaWire in a recent phone interview regarding his decision to open his own label, a move that numerous other opera artists have engaged with. Among the prominent artists to start their own labels are Marina Rebeka with her Prima Classic and Sonya Yoncheva with SY11 Productions.

“Nowadays many artists are doing this and I thought it was a good idea and a way to explore the different projects in my artistic life,” Flórez elaborated before noting the complexities of the process. “To succeed at this, I think you have to surround yourself with the right people first. Because, of course, you don’t really know even if you’ve recorded many albums, how it fully works. So you let yourself be helped. And the rest is to find to create projects and find the right repertory. Fortunately, my team is used to it. There are many fantastic professionals, sound engineers, people who take care of distribution. In the end, it’s a team effort. It’s a challenge, but we’re already quite well on our way and I’m happy.”

Sinfonia por el Perú

With “Zaruzela” being the first album, not only did Flórez want to make a mark with the repertory, but also with the ensemble that he worked with – Sinfonía por el Perú, which the tenor founded in 2011.

When he founded the ensemble, Flórez wanted to give opportunities for future generations of musicians to get major performance opportunities and grow. To this day, per the official website, over 30,000 students have benefitted from the project across 10 regions in Peru.

“I have been inspired by the Venezuelan model of orchestras and choirs, ‘El Sistema,’” the tenor explained. “I was able to do a concert with Gustavo Dudamel and I was so impressed that I wanted to do something similar for Peru. We have currently more than 6.000 beneficiaries. We have numerous centers with different programs: orchestras, choirs, bands, luthier workshops, among others.”

“Our students come from challenging backgrounds, so they don’t have the same opportunities that other children get. But music helps them grow and overcome all these challenges in their lives,” Flórez added.

At the core of the program is the Youth Orchestra where students that show an interest in musical careers, get a chance to delve deeper into the repertoire and go on tour. The organization already brought 30 students to Madrid to perform with the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia, and in recent weeks Flórez took them on tour as an ensemble for the very first time, performing extensively in Madrid, Barcelona, Vienna, Geneva, and Paris.

“I remember during the last tour in Salzburg, they would walk the streets. They couldn’t believe where they were. It was an amazing experience for them, especially because they are very aware of how fortunate they are to have the opportunity to play in wonderful venues where the greatest orchestras in the world also play,” Flórez added.

Regarding the collaboration on “Zarzuela,” Flórez noted that he felt the ensemble was at the right level to tackle the repertory.

“I love performing with them. We’ve done many concerts and being able to do a recording together is a wonderful opportunity,” he continued. “We had a great time during the recording sessions.”

Another major factor in the success of the recording sessions for the album was the collaboration of conductor Guillermo García Calvo, who Flórez pronounced “a great specialist of Zarzuela.” García Calvo has been artistic director of the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.

“He had a lot of input and gave a lot of inspiration to the students,” Flórez added. “He was very focused and enthusiastic to work with them.”

The album even features a piece, the intermezzo from “La Boda de Luis Alonso,” that features the orchestra.

“They get a chance to shine without me,” Flórez remarked.

In addition to this album, the tenor mentioned that he had interest in doing audiovisual releases of opera productions through his label as well as an album with pianist and longtime collaborator Vincenzo Scalera.

“We have performed hundred of concerts together, but have yet to record those programs,” Flórez revealed. “So that is definitely something I would love to do in a future release.”

First Time

Among another of the tenor’s major upcoming projects is his role debut as Pollione in “Norma” at the Vienna State Opera in February 2025. He’s a champion of Elvino in “La Sonnambula” and Arturo in “I Puritani,” and also recorded other Bellini arias in some of his albums, but this is his first attempt at the hero of perhaps Bellini’s most celebrated work.

“He’s a bel canto tenor, but its challenges depend on how you approach it. There’s a verismo tradition, but you can also approach it from a more bel canto angle without cuts and doing ornaments. At his time, the dramatic tenor as we know it now didn’t really exist,” Flórez said about the challenges Pollione offers up before elaborating on the character. “It’s a role about a lover. A man in love. He might come off a bit weak in his character next to the two women, but it’s another exciting role to take on in a beautiful opera.”

The tenor also noted that as far as his future projects, he does hope to take on the title role of “Roberto Devereux,” but also hopes to get more opportunities to perform roles he has only interpreted once, including “Les Contes d’Hoffmann,” which he will be performing in November at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

“I’ve debuted so many roles lately,” he noted. “Some I’ve only gotten to do once. Like ‘Hoffman,’ I only did it once and I will be doing it again. And I would love to do it another time, instead of just adding more operas. I want to consolidate the roles I already have. To do something like ‘Hoffman’ again, is to rediscover it. A role only belongs to you when you’ve sung it multiple times and have had the time to discover all the colors and shades it has.”