Frederick Ballentine is an alumnus of LA Opera's young artist program.
During the 2019/20 season, Mr. Ballentine made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera as Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess, and returned to Seattle Opera as Charlie Parker in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird and to LA Opera as Monastatos in The Magic Flute. In concert, he made his debut with the New Jersey Symphony for Handel’s Messiah. Other original engagements for the COVID-19 shortened 2019-20 season include the role of Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess in a return to Washington National Opera, creating the role of Judah in the world premiere of Gregory Spears’s Castor and Patience with Cincinnati Opera, and his debut in the title role in The Tales of Hoffmann with Opera Louisiane. Future seasons include additional performances of Sportin’ Life with the Metropolitan Opera, performances of Don José in Carmen with Houston Grand Opera, his first performances of Rodolfo in La Bohème with Florentine Opera, and Dr. Richardson in Breaking the Waves with LA Opera.
His 2018/19 season began with a series of debuts, as Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess with both the English National Opera and De Nederlandse Opera. He returns to Cincinnati Opera later in the season in the same role. In the spring, he performed Don José in Carmen with Seattle Opera, having debuted that role earlier in the season with Annapolis Opera, and he also appeared in concert with Wolf Trap Opera’s Chamber Music at the Barn series.
In the fall of 2019, he made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera as Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess, a role he will reprise with Washington National Opera in 2020. Other appearances for the season include his return to LA Opera as Monostatos in The Magic Flute, and to Seattle Opera in the title role of Daniel Schnyder's Charlie Parker's Yardbird. He also performs the title role in The Tales of Hoffmann with Opera Louisiane. Concert appearances include Handel's Messiah with the New Jersey Symphony.
Hailing from Norfolk, Virginia, Frederick Ballentine performed a number of roles during his time as a young artist in Los Angeles, with appearances in The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville, The Ghosts of Versailles and Patrick Morganelli's cinematic opera Hercules vs Vampires. He subsequently returned to the company in 2016 as the High Priest of Amon in Akhnaten.
He joined the Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program in the fall of 2016, where he has performed Luis Griffith in Champion and made a role debut as Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro. He also created the roles of T. Morris Chester and Senator John Lewis in the world premiere of Appomattox to rave reviews. During the 2017/18 season, his performances in Washington included the Messenger in Aida, the Herald in Don Carlo, and Cacambo in Candide. He also appeared with Cincinnati Opera as the Steersman in The Flying Dutchman.
Recent engagements include Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess in a return to Glimmerglass Opera, the First Armored Man in The Magic Flute with Seattle Opera, Reverend Parris in Robert Ward’s The Crucible at the Glimmerglass Festival under the direction of Francesca Zambello. In 2015 he was a Filene Young Artist with Wolf Trap Opera, where he sang Count Almaviva in The Ghosts of Versailles. He has also trained with The Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Aspen Music Opera Center.
In concert, Mr. Ballentine has appeared as a featured soloist with the New York Choral Society for their Christmas Concert, with Naples Philharmonic and the Colburn School for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and Arvo Part’s Miserere, and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela as Pang in Turandot. He is also featured on Placido Domingo’s Christmas album, My Christmas.
Learn more at FrederickBallentine.com.
