Born in Nice, Jean-Luc Ballestra was a member of the CNIPAL in Marseille (former post-graduate opera training centre). He was awarded “best up-and-coming artist” by the Adami and by the Victoires de la Musique Classique in 2007.

 

He made his debut at the Paris Opera in 2004 where he keeps on being regularly invited: he took part in Dialogues des Carmélites, he sang Pantalon from L’Amour des Trois Oranges, Der Steuermann from Tristan und Isolde, Silvano from Un Ballo in Maschera, Cyprien from Yvonne Princesse de Bourgogne - world premiere (with revivals at the Wiener Festwochen and La Monnaie in Brussels), Moralès from Carmen, Marco from Gianni Schicchi, Ramiro from L’Heure Espagnole, Un Capitaine Grec / Un Capitaine Troyen from Les Troyens, Schlémil from Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Marullo from Rigoletto and Doc from Berstein's A Quiet Place.

 

In France, he regularly sang in Nice: Nilakhanta from Lakmé, Albert from Werther, Lescaut from Manon by Massenet and from Manon Lescaut by Puccini, Marcello dans La Bohème, Ruggiero from La Juive, Il Conte Almaviva from Le Nozze di Figaro, Mars from Orphée aux Enfers, Mercutio from Roméo et Juliette, Der Musiklehrer from Ariadne auf Naxos and Ping from Turandot. He was heard in such roles as Schaunard from La Bohème (Nancy, Marseille, Toulon), Frédéric from Lakmé, Sharpless from Madama Butterfly and Olivier from Capriccio (Metz), Ashton from Lucia di Lammermoor and Conrad von Wenckheim from Les Fées du Rhin (Tours), Moralès from Carmen (Montpellier), Haly from L’Italiana in Algeri and Escamillo from Carmen (Lille), Marullo from Rigoletto (Aix-en-Provence Festival),  Scarpia from Tosca (touring production in France), Thoas from Iphigénie en Tauride (Angers), Gaveston from La Dame Blanche by Boieldieu (Limoges), Amonasro from Aida (Arques Festival) and Douphol from La Traviata (Capitole in Toulouse), El Tío Sarvaor from La Vida Breve (Metz) and sang the part of L'Etranger for the world premiere of Voix d'Hébron by Cristian Carrara (Metz and Modena).

 

On international stages, he sang Johann from Werther and Gubetta from Lucrezia Borgia (Monte-Carlo), Escamillo from Carmen (Glyndebourne Touring Opera), Gregorio from Roméo et Juliette (Salzburg Festival), Silvio from Pagliacci (Liceu in Barcelona), Ramiro and L’Horloge Comtoise / Le Chat from the double-bill L’Heure Espagnole / L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Scala in Milan, Rome), Cecco del Vecchio from Rienzi, Albert from Werther and Giacomo from Fra Diavolo (Rome), Marullo from Rigoletto, Leuthold from Guillaume Tell, Masetto from Don Giovanni and Méru from Les Huguenots (Brussels). He made his debut as Méphistophélès from La Damnation de Faust by Berlioz in Erfurt, Le Baron de Gondremarck from La Vie Parisienne at the Québec Opera and Le Dancaïre  from Carmen in Zürich.

 

He made his American debut under the baton of Charles Dutoit in L’Heure Espagnole with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, then in Boston and Los Angeles. Concert wise, he also sang with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (Utrecht and Amsterdam) in Roussel's Évocations conducted by James Gaffigan and in Lélio by Berlioz with the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire.

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He recorded the role of Silvano from Un Ballo in Maschera conducted by Marek Janowski in Monte-Carlo for the San Francisco Classical Recording Company.

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During season 2024-2025, he sings Rambaldo from La Rondine in Metz and Le Second Commissaire / L'Officier from Dialogues des Carmélites in Rouen.