KS Juan Diego Flórez was born in Lima (Peru) and studied there and at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He made his opera début in 1996 in Matilde di Shabran at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro. He is now one of the most popular singers in the world in his fach. Triumphs in recent years include Milan’s La Scala, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and musical capitals such as Paris, Florence, Bologna, Genoa, Turin, Rome, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Munich, Barcelona, Madrid and the Salzburg Festival. Juan Diego Flórez has had an exclusive contract with Sony since 2001. Many of his recordings have won multiple awards. In 2011 Juan Diego Flórez founded the Sinfonía por el Perú, a social integration project, with the goal of promoting the artistic and personal development through music of children and young people at risk in his home country. He débuted at the Wiener Staatsoper in 1999 as Count Almaviva (»Il barbiere di Siviglia«), and roles since then include Rinuccio (»Gianni Schicchi«), Lindoro (»L’italiana in Algeri«), Arturo (»I puritani«), Elvino (»La sonnambula«), Tonio (»La Fille du régiment«), Ernesto (»Don Pasquale«), Nemorino (»L’elisir d’amore«), Roméo (»Roméo et Juliette«), Edgardo (»Lucia di Lammermoor«), Des Grieux (»Manon«) and the Duke of Mantua (»Rigoletto«).