Juan Diego Flòrez was born in Lima (Peru) on January, 13th, 1973. 
He grew up in a music enviroment (his father, Rubèn Flòrez, was a Peruvian 
music singer) and carried out his first music studies at the Conservatorio 
Nacional de Lima and, afterwards, with prof. Andrés Santamaria. 
He soon joined the Coro Nacional and in a short time, he sang as a soloist 
of the choir in works such as Mozart's "KRONUNGSMESSE" and Rossini's 
"PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE".
In 1993, he was admitted to the courses of Curtis Institute of Music of 
Philadelphia where he studied until 1996: during this period, he appeared 
in local perfomances of "I CAPULETI E MONTECCHI", "LE NOZZE DI FIGARO", 
"IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA", "IL VIAGGIO A REIMS". 
The following year, he was invited by the famous peruvian tenor Ernesto 
Palacio (with whom he has been preparing his repertoire since then) 
to take part to some opera productions in Italy and they sang together 
in the first modern performances of Zingarelli's oratorio "LE TRE ORE 
DI AGONIA DI CRISTO" and in Martìn y Soler's opera "IL TUTORE BURLATO". 
He sang at the Sully-sur-Loire Festival and at the International 
Festival of Gerace (Italy).
In 1995 he attended Marilyn Horne's summer classes at Academy of Santa 
Barbara.
In 1996 he obtained his first important success. He was in Pesaro to sing 
the small role of Ernesto in "RICCIARDO E ZORAIDE" and in the pot-puorri 
concert at Rossini Opera Festival. Tenor Bruce Ford, who had to sing the 
role of Corradino in "MATILDE DI SHABRAN", fell ill and Florez learnt
the role in a hurry with the help of Palacio who had sung that role in 1974. 
He was extremely succesfull and since then he has been appearing in
all the most important opera houses in Europe: Meyerbeer's "L'ETOILE
DU NORD" and "DON PASQUALE"(Wexford Festival, 1996), Gluck's "ARMIDE"
(Milan, 1996 and 1999),LA CENERENTOLA" (Genua 1997, Pesaro
1998 and 2000), "IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA" (Trieste, Hamburg and Munich, 1997,
Rome, Toulouse, Milan and Vienna 1999), "FALSTAFF" (Nice and Milan,
1997), "IL SIGNOR BRUSCHINO"(Pesaro, 1997), Rota's "IL CAPPELLO DI
PAGLIA DI FIRENZE" (Milan,1998),"SEMIRAMIDE" (Vienna, 1998),
Donizetti's "ELISABETTA"(London, 1998: first modern performance),"LE
COMTE ORY"(Florence, 1998 and Genoa 2000), "LA SONNAMBULA"(Turin, 1998), 
Donizetti's "ALAHOR EN GRANADA" (Seville, 1998: first modern performance), 
"L'ITALIANA IN ALGERI" (Verona 1998, Las Palmas 1999, Vienna 1999 and 2000, 
Turin 2000,),"MARIA STUARDA" (Turin, 1999), Rossini's Otello as Roderigo 
(London, 2000), Rossini's STABAT MATER (Rome and Verona 1997, S.Francisco, 
Turin, Vienna and Barcelona 1999), Rossini's "IL VIAGGIO A REIMS" 
(Pesaro, 1999),Rossini's "LA PETITE MESSE SOLLENNELE" (Pesaro and Milan 1997, 
Pesaro 1999), Paisiello's "NINA OSSIA LA PAZZA PER AMORE" (Milan 1999 and 
Ravenna 2000).  
In April 2000, Juan Diego Florez won "Premio Abbiati della Critica" 
as 1999 best singer; in July 2000 he received "Rossini d'Oro" prize in Pesaro.