Today's Corriere della Sera carries (not online) a very nice interview with our dear Juan Diego Florez -- tonight it's la prima of Rossini's 3-tenor Otello at Pesaro's Rossini festival -- where he reveals that he has been to dinner to his friend's and neighbor's (Juan Diego has just bought a villa close to Pesaro) Luciano Pavarotti. JDF found the ailing tenor
"in good shape, he's getting better; he's always curious, generous. He likes to be surrounded by a lot of people -- at the dinner table, too".
Juan Diego also repeats that his famous encore at la Scala in La Fille Du Regiment, that had the management quite unhappy -- the last time a soloist had given an encore had been 74 years ago -- "has been a good thing for the opera"; about his Rodrigo in tonigth's production, he says that "he's a romantic, in love with Desdemona -- she's his only thought, he repeats three times 'I shall be happy', but he's a bit envious of Otello because he has been the chosen one for the leadership. Apparently Rodrigo has got no character, but in fact he duets with the Moor, and wants to fight him".