The young baritone Jean-Luc Ballestra was hailed as the Révélation lyrique de l’Année at the Victoires de La Musique Classique Awards 2007. Born in Nice, as a child he began trumpet and voice lessons at the Conservatoire National de Nice. He chose to focus on his vocal studies and took lessons from Eliane Manchet, Jean-Pierre Blivet, Alain Fondary and Gabriel Bacquier. During a two-year training programme at CNIPAL (Centre National d’Insertion Professionnelle d’Artistes Lyriques), he sang recitals at Opéra de Montpellier and Opéra d’Avignon, with programs including Ibert’s melodies and opera arias by Bellini, Bizet, Delibes, Verdi and Mozart. This same year, he was designated “Révélation Lyrique” by ADAMI. In 2002, he sang the roles of Mars in Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers and Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at Opéra de Nice. In June, he sang Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Vivaldi’s Gloria at the Sacred Music Festival in Nice. Other engagements of this year included: Schaunard in La Bohème, Dancaïre in Carmen, and Duparquet in La Chauve-Souris in Nancy and Marseille. His collaboration with Opéra de Nice continued in 2003 with Ein Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos and l’Oncle in Falla’s La Vida Breve. He made his debut at Opéra National de Paris in Les Dialogues des Carmélites in 2004. He also made his debut as Escamillo at the Festival du Château de Sedières. In Nice he sang Ping (Turandot) the same year. In 2005, he returned to Opéra de Monte-Carlo with the roles of Johann in Werther and Gubetta in Lucrezia Borgia. In June, he recorded the role of Morales, Carmen, for Decca with the Orchestre National de France, under the direction of Chung Myung-Whun. He started the 2006 season with Carmen (Morales) at Opéra de Montpellier. He sang Pantalon in a new production of L’Amour des Trois Oranges at Opéra national de Paris, and Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde before returning to Montpellier for Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac. Recent engagements include Silvano in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera at Opéra de Paris, Haly in L’Italiana in Algeri at Opéra de Lille and touring through France, Lescaut in Massenet’s Manon at Opéra de Nice, Escamillo in Carmen with Glyndebourne Touring Opera and Grégorio in Roméo et Juliette at the Salzburg Festival. In 2009, he sang Lescaut in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at Opéra de Nice and returned to the Opéra de Paris for Boesman’s creation, Yvonne Princesse de Bourgogne, a production which was also given during the Wiener Festswochen in 2009 and will be again at La Monnaie in Brussels in 2010. In 2010, he returns to Opéra de Lille and to Grand Théâtre de Caen as Escamillo (Carmen). In 2011, he sings the title role of “Il Prigioniereo’ de Dallapiccola” in Limoges and makes his debut at Teatre de Liceu in Barcelona as Silvio in “Il Pagliacci “. In concert, he returned to the 2010 Salzburg Festival in “Les Choéphores” by Darius Milhaud.