COUNTERTENOR
Born in Canosa di Puglia in 1999, Nicolò Balducci is a countertenor who sings with equal ease and brilliance in the soprano and contralto repertoire.
In 2023-2024 he appeared in Nantes and Angers with Leonardo Alarcon and Cappella Mediterranea in the rare Nabucco by Michelangelo Falvetti. Bayeruth Baroque Festival invited him for Ifigenia in Aulide by Porpora and he was also back at the Opéra Royal de Versailles for Sosarme and Messiah by Handel. He made his debut with Hamburg Elbphilharmonie in Vinci’s Oratorio per la Madonna del Rosario, conductor Boris Begelman. With Ensemble Dolci Affetti he made a successful italian tour reviving music composed by legendary castrato Filippo Finazzi at the Festival Monteverdi di Cremona, Teatro Grande di Brescia, IUC concerts Roma, while he also appeared in concert with Ensemble Il Sestier Armonico in Venice and Treviso. In summer 2024 he appeared at Innsbruck Festival with Accademia Bizantina and Ottavio Dantone in Vivaldi’s Il Trionfo della Fama and at the Ravenna Festival he made his debut with Orchestra Cherubini and Riccardo Muti for the world premiere of Requiem by Giovanni Sollima.
He sang Barzane in Arsilda by Vivaldi in Basel with La Cetra and Andrea Marcon, a role recorded for Naive Classics that will also revive in February 2025 in Amsterdam Concertgebouw and in Bilbao.
In 2022/23 Balducci sang Lucio Cinna in Mozart’s Mitridate re di Ponto at the Salzburger Landstheater, conductor Carlo Benedetto Cimento. He made his debut as Ottone in Incoronazione di Poppea in Valencia Palau des Arts in Valencia with Cappella Mediterranea and Alarçon, a role he revived in Cologne and Toulon and sang his first Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro in Ferrara Teatro Comunale Claudio Abbado. He also sang in Zingarelli’s Giulietta e Romeo wth the Opéra Royal de Versailles, direttore Stefan Plewniak, where he also appeared in concert for Vivaldi’s Gloria e Imeneo as well as and Nerone in Incoronazione di Poppea with Ensemble Les Épopées and Stephan Fuget. He took part to Pigmalione by Ristori in Teatro Sociale di Rovigo, a world premiere in modern era which was awareded the Premio Abbiati 2024. He also sang two recital with Ensemble Stella Mattutina in Gotzis and in august he made his debut at the Innsbruck Festival in La Fida Ninfa by Vivaldi, conductor Chiara Cattani. In september 2023 he appeared with Capella Mediterranea in the rare Draghi oratorio Il Dono della Vita eterna and took part to several concerts with Versailles Opera with music by Handel and Broschi.
In 2021/22 Balducci toured with Dolci Affetti and Dan Laurin in Sweden and appeared at the Gothenburg Concert Hall and the Palladium Theater in Malmö and performed a solo concert in the Stockholm Early Music Festival (SEMF). He has been also soloist in a concert tour in France singing baroque sacred repertoire in hebrew by Salomone Rossi and Benedetto Marcello in French synagogues. With la Toscanini Foundation he sang Arvo Part Stabat Mater in a dance production by Ater Balletto and made his debut as Periarco in Festival della Valle D’Itria, in Cavalli’s Xerse directed by Leo Muscato and conducted by Sardelli.
Nicolò Balducci started his vocal training under the guidance of the soprano Anna Maria Stella Pansini. He earned his master’s degree with honour in baroque singing at the Vicenza Conservatory with the soprano Gemma Bertagnolli. He took part to various master-classes focused on performance practice of the ancient repertoire and he attended the Accademia Vivaldi at the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice; he was awarded a scholarship for the baroque voices courses held by Stradella Festival in Viterbo. In 2021 he has been selected by the Accademia del Belcanto ‘Rodolfo Celletti’ within the Festival della Valle d’Itria. In 2021, under the baton of Andrea Marcon he sang Oberto in G. F. Händel’s Alcina at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza.
Balducci recorder his first cd of rare Neapolitan Cantatas and masterpieces from the Baroque opera repertoire with ensemble Dolci Affetti and Dan Laurin. A second cd followes: “Amore Dolore” dedicated to music od Handel, Vivaldi, Duni and Broschi. A third recital with harpsichordist Anna Paradiso and lieder by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven was issure in 2024, once more by BIS records. He also recorded with Opéra Royal de Versailles, Naxos and Naive.
Nicolò Balducci was awarded several prizes in international competitions such as ‘Cesti Competition’ (3rd prize and Young artist award), ‘Renata Tebaldi Competition’ (1st prize and Young artist award), ‘Niccolò Piccinni Competition’ (1st prize), ‘Concorso T. Traetta’, ‘VoceallOpera’, ‘Fatima Terzo Prize’ and ‘Voci Olimpiche’ led by Andrea Marcon as the artistic director.
