In 2003, four years before his death, acclaimed Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti was asked who would be his successor. "If I had to name one, I would say Juan Diego Florez," he said, hailing the Peruvian singer as a "great talent". Further praise came from Spanish maestro Placido Domingo, who with his compatriot Jose Carreras and Pavarotti formed the Three Tenors.
Florez, he said, was "the greatest light tenor of all time". Now 51 and performing in Jacques Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann" at London's Royal Opera House until December 1, Perez said he still looks back with pride at the words of two of his idols. But he is also looking to the future -- and the quest to find new audiences for opera far beyond its traditional roots.
"In some places I have visited in China it seems to me that there is a very young audience and that is what is needed," he told AFP. As an opera evangelist, Florez firmly believes that newcomers will find the centuries-old art form, often derided as elitist, to be surprisingly contemporary. But he has long been aware of the mass appeal of music: his father was a singer and guitarist and he learned his craft performing everything from Peruvian folk songs to Elvis Presley at the bar that his mother ran.
It was only after he enrolled as a music student in Lima that he discovered the works of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart -- and found his classical voice. "I thought it (opera) was the most beautiful thing there was," he said. The discovery was a launchpad t.
