Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Argentinian tenor Santiago Ballerini is recognized as one of the leading tenors in the Bel Canto repertoire, having performed at many of the major opera houses throughout North and South America from Opera Nacional de Chile, Teatro Colón, Canadian Opera Company, as well as a long side leading international orchestras such as the National Symphony Orchestra in DC, Porto Symphony Orchestra in Portugal, and more. On the concert platform, the tenor performed Carmina Burana with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C. under Gianandrea Noseda, and began the 2020/21 Season in concert with the Porto Symphony Orchestra in Portugal. Last season, Ballerini debuted the role of Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance with the Atlanta Opera, as well as his first Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto with Opera San Antonio, a role he reprised in concert with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in the Spring of 2022. The tenor began the 2021/22 Season with his first Contino Belfiore in La Finta Giardiniera at Teatro Colón, and later made his role and house debut as Alzaga in The Magic Opal at Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.

This season, Ballerini’s engagements include La Traviata at Opera Nacional de Chile, Roméo and Juliette at Opera Naples, and Rigoletto with the Pacific Symphony. Ballerini reprised the role of Ernesto in Don Pasquale for his triumphant debut at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona this September 2022. This season marks a series of exciting roles and theatre debuts for the young tenor. Following his debut in Barcelona, Ballerini debuted the role of Romeo in Gounod’s Roméo and Juliette. This winter 2023, Ballerini reprises the role of Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville at Teatro Regio di Torino. Ballerini will reprise the role of the Duke in Rigoletto this spring in concert with Pacific Symphony followed by his role and house debut as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Cincinnati Opera. This summer 2023, Ballerini debuts as the title role of Gaetano Donizetti’s tragedia lirica – Poliuto with Teatro Nuovo in New York City.

Before starting his professional singing career, Ballerini was a pianist for nine years and studied Music Therapy at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, specializing in addiction treatment. Ballerini was a semifinalist in the Francisco Vinas Competition at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Argentine Finalist at the Neue Stimmen Competition in Dresden, Germany. Ballerini also won First Prize at the Festivals Musicales Competition, American Society Competition and San Juan Opera Competition. In 2014, Ballerini was named Argentina’s “Upcoming Opera Singer” by the Congress of Argentina and the Argentine Association of Critics and received a scholarship to study with Sherrill Milnes. In January of 2016, Ballerini was awarded the Grand Prize at the Laguna Magica International Vocal Competition in Chile, receiving invitations to sing Cassio in Otello with the Teatro Argentino and to sing with the Tenerife Opera.

In the 2019/20 Season, Ballerini made his debut at the Canadian Opera Company as Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. Ballerini began the season with his return to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as Ernesto in Don Pasquale, after which he returned to the Atlanta Opera as Count Almaviva. In the 2018/19 Season, Ballerini debuted at the Teatro Regio di Torino as Nemorino, a role which he later sang for his debut with Opéra de Toulon. Ballerini then returned to the United States for his debut with Opera Saratoga as Tonio in La fille du regiment and to sing concerts in New York, Savannah and Atlanta. Ballerini also appeared at the Teatro Colon, singing Mozart’s Requiem. In the 2017/18 Season, Ballerini made his European debut as Gualtiero in Il pirata at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, after which he appeared for the first time in Bilbao as Ernesto in Don Pasquale and debuted as Tonio at the Atlanta Opera. Ballerini also returned to the Teatro Colon as Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri, appeared at the Teatro Nuovo’s inaugural festival at SUNY Purchase’s Performing Arts Center as Argiro in Tancredi, and sang a concert of arias at the Dallas Opera.

In the 2016/17 Season, Ballerini sang Il Tenor Italiano in Der Rosenkavalier at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at the Teatro Argentino, and Ernesto in Don Pasquale at the Atlanta Opera. Ballerini also covered the roles of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City. In July of 2017, Ballerini returned to the Caramoor Festival in New York to sing Gualtiero in Bellini’s Il pirata opposite Angela Meade. In the 2015/16 Season, he made his acclaimed United States debut at the Caramoor Festival as Fernand in La Favorite and sang the role of Tybalt in The Atlanta Opera’s production of Roméo and Juliette. After singing the role of Conte di Libenskof in Il Viaggio a Reims at the Teatro Bellas Artes in Mexico City, the tenor returned to the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires to sing Jünge Graf in Zimmerman’s Die Soldaten.

Other highlights from previous seasons include Nemorino in The Elixir of Love at the Teatro Solis in Montevideo alongside baritone Erwin Schrott, and performances at the Teatro Colon as the title role in Luigi Nono’s Prometeo and Arbace in Mozart’s Idomeneo. Ballerini also sang Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri at the Teatro Argentino; Belmonte in Die entführung aus dem Serail, Lord Perci in Anna Bolena, Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Teatro Avenida; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Romeo and Tybalt in Roméo and Juliette and Jaquino in Fidelio at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Tamino in The Magic Flute at the Teatro Libertador in Cordoba; and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Colsubsidio Theatre’s re-opening in Bogotá, Colombia.