He was born in Milan and studied singing under Evelyn Tubb in England, Margaret Hayward and Paolo Vaglieri in Milan.
He worked with ensembles like English Baroque Soloists, Il Giardino Armonico, Il Complesso Barocco, The Consort of Musicke, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Aurora, Il Concerto Italiano, Europa Galante, Capella Savaria, performing in the most famous international festivals of Ancient Music and Opera Theatres like Holland Festival Oude Muziek, Festival van Vlaanderen, York Early Music Festival, Festival International de Musique Baroque Beaune, Brugge Festival, Opéra de Lyon, Musica e Poesia a San Maurizio in Milan, Berliner Tage fur Alte Musiek, London Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Berkeley Festival.
He begun to sing Opera in 1993 at Teatro La Fenice in Venice in Traetta '
s Buovo Dantona under the direction of Alan Curtis. Then he sang and recorded the role of the Nutrice in Monteverdi '
s Incoronazione di Poppea conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (Cremona, Rome, Vien, London).
He took part to the John Eccles '
Semele (Mayfield Opera Festival), Peri '
s Euridice and Monteverdi '
s Orfeo (Teatro Regio di Torino) and Marco Marazzoli '
s Capriccio (San Francisco).
In summer 1996 he took part to the French tour with The Nederlandse Bachvereniging singing Bach '
s Magnificat and A Messe under Gustav Leonhardt. Then he sang for the Settimane Bachiane with Il Giardino Armonico and Robert King. In 1997 he sang Bach '
s B-Messe all around Holland with the Nederlandse Bachverenging conducted by Ivan Fischer.
In the winter 1998 he was Athamas in Handel '
s Semele for Vlamse Opera conducted by Marc Minkowski and directed by Robert Carsen.
In 1999 he sang Handel '
s Israele in Egitto in Copenhagen, Stradella '
s Lo Schiavo Liberato at Modena Theatre and Liegi, La Morte di Adone with Venice Baroque Orchestra under Andrea Marcon.
In 2000 he performed Bach '
s Cantatas inn New York and Boston under Gustav Leonhardt, Bach '
s Tilge, Hochster, meine Sunden with Andrea Marcon, Stradella '
s Il Barcheggio in Rome and Milan with Ensemble Pian. Source: Allegorica
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Benedetto Ferrari: Il Sansone
Alessandro Stradella: San Giovanni Battista
Orlando di Lasso: Villanelle, Moresche e Altre Canzone
De Vitae Fugacitate - Lamentos, Cantates et Arias
Dietrich Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri
Alessandro Marcello: unpublished Concertos and Cantatas
Alessandro Stradella: La Susanna
Baldassare Galuppi : Messa per San Marco
Antonio Lotti: La Vita Caduca
Alessandro Stradella: Cantate per il SS. Natale e per l'Anime del Purgatorio
Tommaso Traetta: Buono d'Antona
Antonio Vivaldi: Gloria, Magnificat
Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine
Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea
Girolamo Dalla Casa: Il Secondo Libro dei Madrigali a Cinque Voci con i Passaggi
Giovanni Paolo Colonna: Nisi Dominus/Mottetti e Sacre Lamentazioni
Johann Adolf Hasse : La Conversione di Sant' Agostino
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Listen to Roberto Balconi
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Press about Roberto Balconi
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Monteverdi ' Incoronazione di Poppea '
-...Roberto Balconi '
s glorious performance of Arnalta, Poppea '
s ambitious nurse was remarkable: after an almost entire evening of high camp, s(he) delivered a tender, long lined lullaby to Poppea which made us want to like both her and her vicious mistress.
Robert Levine, Classics Today, marzo 2002
-...impegnato nel ruolo comico en travesti di Arnalta, l '
ha reso con assoluta bravura di cantante e di attore, con la percezione immediata della necessaria ironia - ma la famosa Oblivion soave con cui Arnalta culla Poppea dormiente e '
stata forse il vertice lirico dell '
intera serata...
Bernardo Pieri, Reporter,8 febbraio 2002
Handel ' Siroe '
-...il controtenore Roberto Balconi e '
un perfetto Medarse...
Dino Villatico, La Repubblica, 3.01.2002
Bach, B minor Mass
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ALTO ROBERTO BALCONI BRINGS BACH TO LIFE '
:...The question why the performance disappointed me was definitely answered when the magnificent voice of Roberto Balconi sang the Agnus Dei. It was the warmth, expression but above all the conviction with which the text was delivered in this alto solo that I missed in the technically perfect yet somehow too objective performance of the Mass. With Balconi, Bach really came to life. And Bach is so unique because one is aware of the artist '
s soul through the perfect mastery of the form. A religious work by Bach is always a personal expression of faith. This aspect remained somewhat underexposed, except in the singing of Roberto Balconi...
Henk de Glas, Brabants Dagblad, 28.05.1997
A. Stradella '
Il Barcheggio '
-...basa la sua tecnica vocale sulla ricerca di una perfetta fusione dei registri: l '
emissione risulta omogenea sia nel grave che nell '
acuto, e permette al cantante di fraseggiare con molta convinzione. Il suo Proteo era caratterizzato da un '
esuberante vitalita '
, che risaltava in particolare nell '
aria d '
ingresso e nei recitativi.
Mario Marcarini, Musica, novembre 2000
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Allegorica Opera Management
Dott. Paolo Monacchi
via Bonconte da Montefeltro 74 , 61029 Urbino - Italy
28, Rue Godefroy Cavaignac - 75011 Paris - France
Tel: 0033 1 43 73 09 32 , Mob: Monacchi +33 675777205 , Fax. 0033 1 43 73 09 61
Roberto Balconi
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