REVIEW: Tenor Juan Diego Flórez Triumphs in Recital at The Conrad

Internationally celebrated bel canto tenor Juan Diego Flórez made a thrilling debut Thursday at La Jolla’s Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center. Presented by the La Jolla Music Society, the Peruvian tenor’s recital traversed vocal repertory in a pattern familiar to those who follow Flórez.

Assisted by Italian-American pianist Vincenzo Scalera, Flórez opened with Italian art songs by Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti—the usual suspects—then progressed to zarzuela and bel canto opera arias. He completed the arc with grand opera arias by Massenet, Gounod, and Puccini, and his encores included several traditional songs that Flórez accompanied on guitar.

At age 53 with three decades of opera performance behind him, Flórez paced himself wisely in Thursday’s program. He opened with a rather curious, long-winded Rossini song “Le sylvan,” but the tenor’s most easily recognizable musical virtue—a warm and rich sonority, supple and well balanced throughout his ample range—came into focus in Bellini’s rhapsodic song “Malincolia, ninfa gentile” and his gently nostalgic “La ricordanza.”

As soon as Flórez moved into opera repertory, the room’s dramatic temperature rose exponentially. From Gaetano Donizetti’s 1837 opera Roberto Devereux, his highly charged third act recitative “Ed ancora la tremenda porta” introduced its fiery cabaletta “Come uno sprito angelico.”

The zarzuela, a Spanish language style of operetta that has remained popular since the 17th century, is a trademark of Latin musical culture, and Flórez included three arias from this rich tradition. In the early 20th century, composers Reveriano Soutullo and Juan Vert were Spain’s Rodgers and Hammerstein of the zarzuela. From their 1928 signature zarzuela El último romantico, Flórez sang “Bella enamorada,” an entrancing love song with its captivating refrain “Noche de amor, noche misterioso.”

From El guitarrico, a popular zarzuela by Augustín Pérez Soriano, Flórez gave a playful account of  “Suena, guitarrico mío,” a song with a clever piano accompaniment that imitates the bright staccato tones of the guitar.

Flórez brought the program to a close with Rodolfo’s beloved aria from Puccini’s La bohème, “Che gelida manina.” His soaring climaxes and ardent interpretation clearly demonstrated why he is such a favorite of Metropolitan Opera audiences and of other major opera houses around the globe.

Flórez’s fluent collaborator pianist Vincenzo Scalera provided the soloist eloquent support at every turn and played several solos on the program. I was taken by his clever offering of Ernesto Lecuona’s Mazurka Glissando, spirited traditional dance embellished by an avalanche of glissandos.

The tenor’s several encores with his own guitar accompaniment: Ernesto di Capua’s “I’ te vurria vasa,’” Chabuca Granda’s medley “Bella enamorada… La flor de la canela… Fina estampa,” and Tomás Méndez’s “Cucurrucucú paloma.” Also, Giuseppe Verdi’s aria “La donna è mobile” from his opera Rigoletto.

This program was presented by the La Jolla Music Society on Thursday, February 12, 2026, at The Conrad in La Jolla.