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“His light yet sonorous voice lent itself well to Bel Canto singing, and he is one of the era’s top interpreters. He had excellent agility as he moved through the fioritura and had no issues sending his voice over the orchestra. Most impressive was his use of dynamics and head voice. He went from full-throated fortes to the gentlest pianissimos with utmost surety." Operawire
The Italo-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 in North and South America, including the Teatro Municipal de Santiago, the Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, the Canadian Opera Company, the Bellas Artes Opera, and The Dallas Opera, as well as alongside major international orchestras and opera houses in Europe, such as the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Opéra National de Bordeaux, the Teatro Real Madrid, and the Gran Teatre del Liceu, among others.
In the 2023/24 season, Santiago Ballerini debuts as Narciso in a new production of Il turco in Italia by Rossini at the Teatro Colón. He returns to the Teatro Regio di Torino to star as Prunier in La Rondine, and then travels to the Arizona Opera to sing Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. He performs as Argirio in Rossini's Tancredi at the Opéra de Rouen Normandie, and sings Ernesto in a new production of Don Pasquale at the Canadian Opera Company. In the summer of 2024, he performs Javier Carmena's zarzuela, El Orgullo de quererte, in concert at the Teatros del Canal de Madrid, after premiering the work in 2022.
Last season marked a series of splendid debuts for Ballerini, starting with his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu as Ernesto in Don Pasquale. He debuted in the role of Roméo in a new production of Roméo et Juliette at the Naples Opera, and made his West Coast debut as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. He performed the role of Alfredo in La Traviata at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile and later sang the role at the National Opera of Ireland, and made his debut as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Cincinnati Opera.
In addition to singing his signature role of Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Regio di Torino, he concluded the season with his debut in the title role of the lyric tragedy Poliuto by Donizetti at the Teatro Nuovo, receiving critical acclaim from the New York Times, which said: "As Poliuto, Santiago Ballerini embodied the virtues of the Teatro Nuovo's style with a beautiful, gracefully produced tenor capable of reaching dramatic heights." In the concert scene, he gave a recital in honor of George Shirley at the Sherrill Milnes Gala in New York, and joined the Real Filharmonía de Galicia for a solo concert in Spain, conducted by Baldur Brönnimann.
He recently debuted at the Canadian Opera Company as Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. At the Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, he portrayed Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Lindoro (L'italiana in Algeri), the Italian Singer (Der Rosenkavalier), and Jünge Graf (Die Soldaten).
In recent seasons, he has debuted at the Teatro Regio di Torino as Nemorino, a role he later performed in his debut with the Opéra de Toulon, his debut with Opera Saratoga as Tonio in La fille du régiment, and 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. He also performed at the inaugural festival of the Teatro Nuovo at the Performing Arts Center of SUNY Purchase as Argiro in Tancredi.
Other notable performances from previous seasons include Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore at the Teatro Solís in Montevideo, and performances at the Teatro Colón in the title role of 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 Percy 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, Roméo and Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette, and Jaquino in Fidelio at the Teatro Municipal de Río de Janeiro, Brazil; Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at the Teatro Libertador de Córdoba; and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 at the reopening of the Teatro Colsubsidio in Bogotá, Colombia.
