With El Sistema, you can create orchestras everywhere; then they can decide whether they want to become professional musicians. The aim is not only to create musicians, but to create people.

I concentrated on Rossini when I began, and I never really felt any competition. I sang in the best houses, and I believed I was always a first choice. I was lucky in a way - I never felt there was someone else who was getting the roles in another theatre and that we were competing.

Sometimes at my performances, I see Peruvian flags in the audience. I've never seen, when an Italian sings, people with Italian flags. But with Peru, it's different: because there are not many famous people, they really celebrate the ones they have.

My parents never really wanted me to be a musician at all, because in Peru you don't earn any money that way. But when they realised it was genuinely what I wanted to do, they supported me always.