Mozart

Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez performs arias from nine Mozart operas and one concert aria, each of which conveys the composer’s special, lyrical phrasing and dramatic impact. The opening aria from Act II of Idomeneo, “Fuor del mar,” makes a parallel between a near-death at sea and the main character’s tormented heart, figured in musical terms by punishing melismas (singing a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession) and vocal leaps that imitate waves, watery and emotional. In Act I of Die Zauberfloete, Tamino, beholding a cameo, has found an ideal love. The character Alessandro, in Il re pastore, considers a passing storm and finds the promise - in vocal runs and coloratura - of renewal in Nature.

From Act III of Don Giovanni, Don Ottavio wishes to redress his beloved’s insulted honor. From Act I of Don Giovanni, Octavio states his only peace must come from his beloved’s peace of mind. Florez sings two arias from La clemenza di Tito: the first relates the sole compensation in having power: helping others in distress. The second states that ruthlessness in power does not assure loyalty, and this king will not bear a heard heart. Fernando’s aria from Cosi fan tutte, Act I celebrates the bliss of love and its sustaining power for the human heart. Balmonte, in Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail, addresses love’s power to achieve the miraculous. The concert aria, “Misero! O sogno. . . Aura che intorno spiri,” relates a tragic situation: a man trapped in a rocky hollow bemoans his lonely, abandoned fate, never to see his beloved again.