Peruvian star tenor Juan Diego Flórez delivered his baby son on Saturday less than an hour before delivering an acclaimed performance at the New York Metropolitan Opera. He worked with two midwives to help his wife Julia Trappe Flórez in the birth of the couple’s first child.

Leandro Flórez came into the world at 12.25pm and was held by his proud father for one minute before the 38-year-old tenor left to sing the lead in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory at the Met’s 1pm matinee. The performance, also starring soprano Diana Damrau and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, was broadcast live in cinemas and on the radio to a worldwide audience of millions.

“It was beautiful,” a beaming Flórez said of the birth in an interview during the broadcast. “It was a home birth with a pool, in the water, it was very nice and very calm.”

He had just moments to welcome the new addition to the Flórez family before dashing to curtain call from his rented Manhattan apartment. “I gave the baby to Julia,” he said. “I was so sad to leave.”

Flórez and his glamorous Australian wife were married in 2008. Both mother and baby are doing...