Internationally acclaimed Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez has returned to Australian shores, kicking off a three-city tour at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Hamer Hall on Saturday evening and bringing his mix of elegance, sincerity and unassuming persuasive power.

Demonstrating what a world-class artist he is, and how comfortable he is with his craft, Flórez lets the evening’s thoughtfully curated program unfold with a naturalness in which even the most demanding moments feel effortless.

In the vastness of Hamer Hall, only Flórez and pianist Vincenzo Scalera at the grand piano occupy the broad stage – a spareness heightened by an audience sadly at barely three-quarter capacity. Nevertheless, the duo quickly create a warmth and intimacy that bind the space and bridge the distance with ease.

Juan Diego Floréz. Photo © Melboune Recital Centre

The program begins with the pastoral calm of Le sylvain – a subtle salon gem from Rossini’s later Paris years, written in his retirement. Characterised by a mood of unmistakable pleading, it is well suited to Flórez’s diaphanous phrasing, unbroken legato and upper notes of luminous beauty.

Moving on to three Bellini ariette (short, simple arias), Flórez continues with works that exemplify introspective storytelling. The first of Bellini’s Sei Ariette, Malinconia, ninfa gentile is delivered with sweet delicacy. In Vanne, o rosa fortunata, another of the Sei Ariette with text by the great opera seria librettist Pietro Metastasio, Flórez brings inviting spatial openness and restrained nobility to poetry that tells of a speaker imagining himself transformed into a rose and lamenting unrequited love. La ricordanza – Bellini’s early treatment of melodic ideas he would later refine in I puritani – follows, and Flórez traces its arching beauty with unhurried, glowing lyricism.

Scalera’s piano accompaniment is superb, and his excellent musicianship similarly takes the spotlight. As part of a series of punctuating piano solos that provide texture and contrast – not to mention a brief vocal reprieve for Flórez – Scalera’s first solo, the lightly toned Arietta: Almen se non poss’io, is shaped with a smooth, transparent touch, giving the miniature piece appealing lilt and charm.

In a slight shift of emotional intensity, Flórez returns with a searing account of Donizetti’s Ah! Rammenta, o bella Irene – a deeply expressive cavatina intended for salon recital, outlining the anguish and longing of a broken heart. Flórez’s warm vocal elasticity and smooth register shifts shine through. But it is the first part’s finale, Ed ancora la tremenda porta … Come uno spirito angelico from the composer’s Roberto Devereux – in which the titular character faces imminent death – that reveals the elevated fire of burning passion and the bel canto intensity of which Flórez is a master.

Juan Diego Floréz. Photo © Melboune Recital Centre

After the interval, the sound palette alters with a move into Spanish repertoire and a bite-sized showcase of zarzuela – a Spanish form of musical theatre combining singing, spoken dialogue and dancing. With its wooing sense of line, Flórez delivers Reveriano Soutullo and Juan Vert’s Bella enamorada from their 1928 El último romántico with melting suavity and understated sentiment. Rhythmic suppleness and entertaining playfulness of phrasing follows in an exuberant highlight – Agustín Pérez Soriano’s dance-like Suena, guitarrico mío from the 1900 comic work El guitarrico. José Serrano’s Aquí está quien lo tiene tó y no tiene ná from his 1909 La alegría del batallón brings a display of theatrical wit and finely contoured meanderings.

Scalera follows, adding glittering virtuosity with Cuban composer and pianist Ernesto Lecuona’s fabulously zippy early-20th-century Mazurka glissando, before Flórez turns to two compositions from major figures of French Romantic opera, Massenet and Gounod.

For Massenet’s despairingly themed Ah, tout est bien fini… Ô souverain, Ô juge, ô père, for the tenor role of Rodrigue in the 1885 Le Cid, Flórez introduces a dignified, almost solemn tone — nuanced, poetic, resonant and articulated with impeccable French diction.

In Gounod’s Quel trouble inconnu me pénètre… Salut! Demeure chaste et pure from Faust (1859), Flórez infuses Faust’s awed contemplation of Marguerite’s innocence with a glowing timbre and finely controlled lyricism that builds toward Everest highs while maintaining perfectly buttressed shape.

Scalera then offers a tender, brooding account of a piano arrangement of Benjamin Godard’s cradle song Berceuse from his long-forgotten opera Jocelyn, before Flórez closes the formal program with a piece by François-Adrien Boieldieu, often referred to as the ‘French Mozart’. Fearlessly discharging soaring high notes with utmost elegance and showcasing an arresting, jewel-like tremolo, Flórez brings stylistic refinement, classical poise and finishing polish to the aria Viens, gentille dame from La dame blanche (1825).

Six encores keep the audience enthralled, and Flórez is clearly revelling in the personal connection he has nurtured along the way. Donizetti’s Ah! mes amis from La fille du régiment opens them with dazzling athleticism. Sung with guitar, a Peruvian waltz honours his heritage, meeting warm recognition from compatriots in attendance.

One of the evening’s most affecting moments comes with an intimate, near–tear-provoking rendition of Cucurrucucú paloma, a familiar Mexican song written by Tomás Méndez in 1954 and used in several film soundtracks. Be My Love, the Mario Lanza hit from the early 1950s and the night’s only English-language work, is delivered with nostalgic warmth. Finally comes a bursting, airborne account of the popular La donna è mobile from Verdi’s Rigoletto.

Supported by the unfailing sensitivity of Scalera, Flórez offers Melbourne a special night of abundant artistic expression, effortless charm and impeccable tenorial radiance. Would a third visit be too greedy to hope for?

Juan Diego Flórez performs in recital at the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House on 1 December, and at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide on 3 December.