Juan-Diego Flórez was born on January 13, 1973 in Lima. He is the son of a singer of traditional Peruvian music. In 1990, Juan-Diego Flórez entered the National Conservatory of Music of Peru. In 1994, Juan-Diego Flórez met the Peruvian tenor Ernesto Palacio, who invited him on two recordings and became his mentor. In 1996, while rehearsing a small role of Ricciardo e Zoraide, within the framework of the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, the tenor having to interpret Corradino in Mathilde de Shibran for the same festival fell ill. Juan-Diego Flórez replaces him at short notice. The ensuing success opened the doors to the biggest stages in the world: for example, he made his Paris debut in L’Italienne à Alger in 2000. He marked the history of La Scala in Milan in 2007 by giving a encore of the aria “Ah mes Amis” taken from La Fille du Régiment by Donizetti: no encore had yet sounded at La Scala since 1933. In 2012, very committed to music education in Peru, Juan-Diego Flórez was appointed Unesco Goodwill Ambassador.