Lend me this tenor

Juan Diego Florez

Anthony Tommasini, chief music critic for The New York Times, may find him not to his taste. But the rest of the musical world is pretty much in love with Juan Diego Flórez, who has returned to The Metropolitan Opera this spring in the Casanova-ish title role of Rossini’s little-known, little-performed “Le Comte Ory.” Indeed, it’s fair to say Flórez is the reason The Met revived the comic opera, which is being simulcast in our area April 9.

I have always thought Flórez to be the embodiment of the four Ts it takes to make a great star – talent, training, technique and temperament. His is a naturally beautiful lyric tenor voice that while neither as huge as Luciano Pavarotti’s or as darkly colored as Placido Domingo’s, is nonetheless perfectly placed and thus perfectly suited to the bel canto operas of Rossini and Donizetti that require the singer both to spin long silvery phrases and toss off intricate coloratura runs and high Cs, even Ds, with aplomb. His background (his father is a folk singer in his native Peru) and his training (at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia) have equipped Flórez with a technique so incomparable that it is possible to say his technique has technique.

None of this would matter if he didn’t have the temperament for opera. Onstage, he is funny, charismatic and charming, delivering performances that are all of a piece and that locate the humor and the pathos in the vocal line. This enabled him to steal the show in The Met’s revelatory production of “The Barber of Seville,”  even though his Count Almaviva was technically the third lead.

Not surprisingly, the director of that production, Bartlett Sher, is back in the driver’s seat for “Le Comte Ory,” which reunites Flórez with “Barber” co-stars Diana Damrau and Joyce DiDonato. Here, soprano Damrau is the love interest and mezzo DiDonato, in one of opera’s classic pants roles, is Ory’s rival for her affections. There is plenty of threesome action an dgender-bending here, as Ory disguises himself as a nun at one point to win the hand of his lady.

With Flórez’s muy caliente looks – those flashing eyes, that Cupid’s mouth saying “yes, yes, yes” – it’s an easy bet that for many viewers, the nunnery will be the last thing on their minds.

Now, for how to see the dynamic divo:   Go to http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx and follow the prompts on the left-hand side of the page. Among the participating venues are Brandford 12, Danbury 16, Buckland Hills 18 IMAX, the Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University, The Ridgefield Playhouse, the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook, all in Connecticut; and  in New York, the New Roc Stadium 18 Plus IMAX in New Rochelle, City Center 15 Cinema DeLux in White Plains and Bardovan/UPAC in Poughkeepsie. At $20-$25 – a steal for an opera – this is one tough ticket. But if you can’t get into the 1 p.m. simulcast, generally you can get into the encore, which is scheduled for April 27 at 6:30 p.m. 

The independent venues don’t always adhere to the national schedule, however. The Ridgefield Playhouse, for instance, is presenting its encore at 6 p.m. April 9, the same day as the simulcast. It’s at (203) 438-5795, or ridgefieldplayhouse.org.