juan diego is a real example of how somebody can fall in love with opera unexpectedly. he became smitten when he joined the conservatory in lima. igot in, and then i discovered classical music there and i loved it. i loved what my voice could do. and then, i was asking everybody, "do you think i'm good? "do you think i could be a tenor? "i like this kind of singing, "but i don't know if i'm good enough." after studying there for three years, juan dego left peru for the first time to train in the united states with the full support of his family. my mother was always so supportive. she is a strong woman, so she was, "yeah, you have to go. we will do whatever it takes." so we sold the family carfor $1,000,