Sometimes promoted as the successor to Luciano Pavarotti, tenor Juan Diego Flórez (born 1973 in Lima, Peru) actually has a different kind of voice: light, supple, athletic, virtuosic, and especially well suited to the bel canto roles of the early 19th century. After a triumphant debut at the 1996 Pesaro Rossini Festival, Flórez went on to stardom in the world's major opera houses. An accomplished singing actor with a gift for comedy, he has excelled in roles such as Tonio in Donizetti's La fille du régiment and the title role in Rossini's Le Comte Ory.