(Credit: Lucas Sanchez)

Argentinian/Italian tenor Santiago Ballerini is one of the leading tenors in the Bel Canto repertoire. He has performed at many of the major opera houses throughout North and South America from Opera Nacional de Chile, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Canadian Opera Company, Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and Dallas Opera. He has also performed in Europe at such venues as the Teatro Regio Torino, Opéra National du Bordeaux, Teatro Real, Gran Teatre del Liceu, and more.

Ballerini spoke to OperaWire about Bel Canto, Gounod, and singing rare works.

OperaWire: You recently sang the role of Ernesto in Don “Pasquale” at the Canadian Opera Company. What is the significance of this role for you?

Santiago Ballerini: Ernesto is one of the roles I have sung most in my career, and I feel like Donizetti is the composer that best suits my voice. I love his work for its theatricality and of course, I love bel canto. This upcoming season I will celebrate my 15th year as a singer and throughout these years I have sung Bel Canto and I think I am in a great place in my career. And Ernesto is one of the roles that has opened doors for me.

OW: You said Donizetti suits your voice very well. Why?

SB: Like I said, I dedicate myself to Bel Canto and Donizetti is the one that really works for my voice and the way I sing. Maybe a few years ago I would have said Rossini. But today Donizetti is my friend. I also love his work because of his theatricality and he has very good timing in his vocal writing and his librettos.

Over the past 15 years, I have done a lot of comedy such as “La Fille du Regiment” and I think I have figured out how to do this comedy. It is different from being humorous. Comedy has accents and is lyrical and it has many pauses. And I really love doing comedy. Vocally his comedies are also very comfortable.

OW: Donizetti also has many dramatic roles. Do those also work well with your voice?

SB: Last season I debuted Edgardo in “Lucia di Lammermoor” and “Poliuto”; those roles require more vocal weight. I feel like I have gained it.

OW: Can you tell me the difference between singing Rossini and Donizetti?

SB: It’s all about the position. Rossini needs flexibility and the singing is higher. Rossini is difficult because you have to put a lot of notes into a measure. I learned from hearing many singers like Juan Diego Florez talk about singing Rossini. You have to practice and rehearse Coloratura. I always use a metronome and I try to practice at least 20 minutes a day of coloratura runs when I am singing the music. You need the muscle to adapt to it and it is difficult to go from lyric writing to coloratura. So I try to put time between these roles to be able to adjust.

OW: Would you say it is easier to go from Donizetti to Verdi?

SB: I sing Traviata with a Bel Canto technique. I want people to hear my sound and I want to give the most authentic reading to my technique.  My voice has developed and I have tried to move into this repertoire slowly. So I have a lot of Fenton coming up.

OW: Would you say that Verdi’s work is similar to Donizetti’s writing?

SB: They are more compatible. When you sing Bel canto like Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, the repertoire stays in the same tessitura. You are in a high tessitura all the time and the voice needs certain work. Verdi is a little lower and more central. He has high notes but his climaxes are not high notes. He is more about the drama. Bel Canto is more about finding the truth of the text through repetition.

But there are influences in the way the arias are composed.

OW: This summer you are debuting a forgotten opera, Carolina Uccelli’s “Anna di Resburgo.” Tell me about the work.

SB: I will debut the work which is Bel Canto and it is a work that has been lost. Will Crutchfield help discover it and it is going to be shown at the Teatro Nuovo.

Uccelli is a fascinating woman composer who never got the spotlight she deserved because she was a woman. I am studying the work and I have to say that the score is amazing. It is pure Bel Canto and it will be heard for the second time at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

There are so many Bel Canto composers that have not been heard but at the end of the day, it is up to the companies to perform these works. I just returned from doing Rossini’s “Tancredi,” which is amazing in composition and drama. It is so dense and theatrical but it is never done.

OW: Speaking of rare works, companies are experimenting with diversity and new works. As a Latin American, is there a work that you would like to do or see more often?

SB: I am a very Argentine person and I like the culture. Argentina is in a very difficult moment right now. A few years ago I recorded an album of Argentine songs which was called “per lei” which was a tribute to women. I would really like to see more Argentine composers and tangos. But opera, I am not sure.

OW: What are some roles that you would love to do?

SB: I would love to debut I Puritani and La Sonnamubula. I have studied them and love these works. The role I love to sing is Romeo in Gounod’s opera but it is difficult and long. It is a role that I feel so much for and one that I love to live. I love to sing it.

OW: Why is French something that you enjoy singing and how does it differ from Italian?

SB: French, Italian, and German have different commodities. I enjoy French much more than German while others feel differently. I love Italian because my grandpa always spoke it. But after that French. And I love speaking languages and communicating in different ways to go into the culture.

OW: How does Gounod’s music compare to your work in Bel Canto?

SB: I sing with my technique and I have developed a Bel Canto technique. I sing it very Bel Canto way with a lot of lines and vibrato. I think that way and Romeo is much more dramatic.

OW: What excites you about next season?

SB: I will celebrate my 15th anniversary as a singer. This is my third career, I began as a pianist and I was a musical therapist which I studied in the university. So this has been a journey to get to my singing career. This is a challenging path but I have learned a lot. I am in a great moment in my career and I am excited to go to the Atlanta Opera I have some zarzuela in Oviedo and many other things that excite me.