Biography

The young tenor, Péter Balczó – born in 1983 – brings a strong yet flexible and lyric voice and his strong stage presence to his performances. His exceptional acting skills – so rare in the genre of opera – make Péter one of the most talented artists of his generation.

Péter completed his university studies in Debrecen, under the tutelage of Professor Éva Mohos-Nagy. After graduation, he took master classes with Mirella Freni and Dénes Gulyás. He began his career as an opera singer in the same city, in Debrecen; he performed his first operatic roles at Csokonai Theatre. In 2010, he won the shared second prize at the Armel Opera Competition for his performance of La Traviata. After this career breakthrough, multiple opportunities to sing principal roles at the opera and operetta productions of several Hungarian theatres followed.

From his debut at The Hungarian State Opera in 2012 in the role of Alfredo (Verdi: La Traviata) to many other opportunities later, Péter performed principal and title roles in new premieres and repertoire pieces. He has a great professional flexibility, by virtue of which he is often invited to perform classical opera roles like Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), László Hunyadi (Hunyadi), Belmonte (The Abduction from the Seraglio), Fenton (Falstaff), Nemorino (The Elixir of Love) Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), as well as contemporary works, e.g. Tom Rakewell (The Rake's Progress), Ferdinand (The Tempest), Sporting Life (Porgy and Bess),and also experimental performances like Kornélis (The Yellow Princess) or Fred (The Respectful Prostitute) in the opera series Late Night of the Liszt Academy of Music. He is often asked to perform smaller character roles as well, e.g. Nick (The Girl of the Golden West), Az ifjú jelenése (The Woman Without a Shadow), Beppo (Pagliacci), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi) vagy Ottó (Bánk bán).

Apart from Budapest, the capital city, Péter is a frequent guest artist in other cities of Hungary, performing regularly in Szeged, Debrecen and Szombathely as well. He participated in productions of the first three years of the Co-Opera company: The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro and The Abduction from the Seraglio.

Péter also enjoys exploring the world of operetta. He made his debut at the Budapest Operetta Theatre in 2015 in J. Strauss: The Bat, but he performed Prince Szu-Csong in The Land of Smiles and Edvin in The Gipsy Princess as well.

Péter has worked with the most renowned Hungarian directors, such as András Almási-Tóth, Ferenc Anger, Pál Göttinger, Tamás Juronics, Miklós Gábor Kerényi, Vajk Szente, Kriszta Székely, János Szikora, Miklós Vecsei H., and many more. He was invited to perform together with such world-class singers as Leo Nucci, Aleksandrs Antonenko, Marcello Alvarez, Marcello Giordani, Kristian Benedikt, Gaston Rivero, Elena Mosuc, Kurt Ridl, Edita Gruberova; and been invited to give performances in Switzerland, Slovakia and Slovenia. He has participated at several opera tours abroad, e.g. in 2013 in Oman, in 2015 in Japan and in 2017 in Israel.

Budapest audiences have seen two of his individual recitals with a selection of his varied, ever-growing repertoire.

Awards:

2016 Vilmos Rubanyi-award
2012 Simandy-plaquette
2012 Domotor-award, Male Opera Singer of the year, audience award
2011 Domotor-award, Male Opera Singer of the year, audience award
2011 Young Opera Singer of the Year, Szeged, Hungary
2007 Quality-Award for his performance in the Die verkaufte Braut by Smetana

Competitions:

2012 Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition, Norrköping, Sweden – 4thPrize
2011 Puccini International Vocal Competition, Lucca, Italy – Special Prize of the Teatro Communale di Bologna
2010 Armel Opera Competition and Festival, Szeged, Hungary – Shared 1st Prize
2010 2nd International Gianluca Ricci Vocal Competition, Montefiore Conca, Italy – 2nd Prize
2009 Opera Competition and Festival with Mezzo Television, Szeged, Hungary – Finalist
2009 International Tenor Singing Competition, Jyväskylä, Finland – 3rd Prize
2007 Simandy Singing Competition, Szeged, Hungary – Amarilli Special Prize
2005 Simandy Singing Competition, Szeged, Hungary – Special Prize
2005 International Singing Competition, Deutschlandsberg, Austria – Finalist

Born in 1983, Peter started a 12-year study of the violin at the age of seven. He completed his secondary school education in 2002, as a student of singing instructor Vilhelmina Papp at the Zoltan Kodaly Secondary School of Music in Debrecen, with the solo singing department. From September of this year he started his 3-year membership at the opera choir of the Csokonai Theatre in Debrecen.

He participated in his first international singing competition in May, 2005, in Deutschlandsberg, Austria. Here he came to the attention of singing instructor Claudia Rüggeberg of the Graz Academy of Music, who taught him for a year. In the meantime, he completed 2 years of masters training at the Music Faculty of the University of Debrecen, as a solo singer under the instruction of Eva Mohos Nagy.

After leaving the opera choir, Peter tried himself out in a new field and joined theAdagio Ensemble trio in May, 2005. After finishing hisinternational studies in September, 2006, he returned as a soloist to the Csokonai Theatre of Debrecen. Until 2009, while he was still in university, he performed in many exciting roles. He finished his university thesis with merit.

In 2009, Peter entered the Armel Opera Competition in Switzerland, as a main character of two, one-act operas: Oscar (Martinu: Alexandre bis), and Gonzalve (Ravel: L’Heure Espagnole). Then in 2010, he was named one of the best male performers of the competition with the role of Alfredo in La Traviata.

In the 2010/2011 season, he sang two major roles in operetta: Prince Sou-Chong, in The Land of Smiles by Franz Lehar, and Edwin in The Gipsy Princess, by Emmerich Kálmán.

In 2011, he appeared in several different roles both in Hungary and abroad. He sang in ItalyDon Ottavio (Mozart: Don Giovanni), in Slovenia Romeo (Gounod: Romeo and Juliette),in SzegedMalatestino (Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini), and in Miskolc and the Hungarian Opera of Cluj-NapocaRodolfo (Puccini: La bohème). In 2012, in the Szeged National Theatre Pinkerton (Puccini: Madame Butterfly) and the Csokonai Theatre of Debrecen as Rodolfo (Puccini: La bohème).

Peter made his debut in the Hungarian State Opera House as Alfredo (Verdi:La Traviata) in the spring of 2012. In the 2012/2013 season, he played two more major roles in the Hungarian State OperaHouse(László Hunyadi, The Abduction from the Seraglio). In the 2013/2014 season, he sang as Fenton (Verdi: Falstaff), Nemorino (Donizetti: The Elixir of Love) in the State Opera House, and Lensky (Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin) in Szombathely.

Awards:

· 2012 Simandy-plaquette

· 2012 Domotor-award, Male Opera Singer of the year, audience award

· 2011 Domotor-award, Male Opera Singer of the year, audience award

· 2011 Young Opera Singer of the Year, Szeged, Hungary

· 2007 Quality-Award for his performance in the Die verkaufte Braut by Smetana

Competitions:

· 2012 Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition, Norrköping, Sweden – 4^thPrize

· 2011 Puccini International Vocal Competition, Lucca, Italy – Special Prize of the Teatro Communale di Bologna

· 2010 Armel Opera Competition and Festival, Szeged, Hungary – Shared 1^stPrize

· 2010 2nd International Gianluca Ricci Vocal Competition, Montefiore Conca, Italy – 2^nd Prize

· 2009 Opera Competition and Festival with Mezzo Television, Szeged, Hungary – Finalist

· 2009 International Tenor Singing Competition, Jyväskylä, Finland – 3^rd Prize

· 2007 Simandy Singing Competition, Szeged, Hungary – Amarilli Special Prize

· 2005 Simandy Singing Competition, Szeged, Hungary – Special Prize

· 2005 International Singing Competition, Deutschlandsberg, Austria – Finalist