Juan Diego Flórez is THE tenor for bel canto operas, the first choice for any new production at the world"s greatest opera houses. Flórez recently performed the first aria encore at La Scala in 74 years. On Voce d"Italia, he pays tribute to an extraordinary predecessor who inspired some of his greatest stage roles and became the first `superstar tenor": Giovanni Battista Rubini. Like Flórez today, Rubini was loved as much for the touching pathos of his slow singing as for the thrilling power of his fast, high roulades. Roles the two singers have shared include the Prince in Rossini"s La Cenerentola, Elvino in Bellini"s La sonnambula, Arturo in Bellini"s I puritani, Uberto in Rossini"s La donna del lago, and the title role of Rossini"s Otello. Many of the arias by Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti on this new recording with the Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome under Roberto Abbado, are unknown gems which show the tremendous range of Flórez"s vocal and dramatic art. Flórez thrillingly tosses off those high Cs which have brought him so much fame, and ventures further into the stratosphere with a few high Ds and his first high E-flat on record.