Audi 2008 Annual Report Download - page 54

Vorsprung Precision
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past, singers used their natural voices up to a certain
register and then switched over to falsetto, or pure head
voice. The result was a very placid tone. Duprez was the
first tenor to sing the high C using his full voice, or from
the chest. In other words, naturally. That sounded very
aggressive back then.” Even so, Duprez started a veritable
revolution in singing technique, the likes of which have not
been seen in any other voice category, and which led an-
other composer, Hector Berlioz, to rave, “The tenor is a
creature not of this world.”
“Oh dear!” laughs Flórez. “You never know with Berlioz ex-
actly how serious he was when he made that statement.”
As for Flórez, he’s down-to-earth. “I try to sing without any
hint of affectedness.” The South American likes to compare
his singing technique to driving a sports car: “The various
registers I sing in are like the gearshift. When I start to
move towards a high note, then I will probably have to
shift into fourth or fifth gear. I use a special breathing
technique to exert just the right pressure, just as if I were
stepping on the gas pedal. Air is the singer’s gasoline: You
have to use more and more air to reach the high notes,
while the diaphragm compresses and the body contracts.
I have to keep the pressure on and find the right balance.
This is the secret of high notes.” Flórez was trained in this
technique. First in Lima, where he grew up as the son of a
folksinger, and then from 1993 at the renowned Curtis
Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
When the world’s most famous tenor, Enrico Caruso, was
once asked the secret of his extraordinary success, he
replied: “A big chest, a big mouth, 90 percent memory,
10 percent intelligence, a lot of hard work and a little
something in the heart.” Flórez smiles. He would add intel-
ligence and heart to the formula, though he will not and
01 The pressure forces him to be
even better, says Flórez, getting
ready for his performance back
in the dressing room.
02 Backstage, the set is being
built up – perfecting the
evening’s illusion.
“Navigating the way through my upper voice is cathartic:
It’s like entering another dimension.”
Juan Diego Flórez
01
02