Press
Giorgio Germont in La traviata - Opera Santa Barbara 2022
…Alfredo’s father Giorgio Germont, in a standout performance by baritone Joel Balzun.
Leslie Dinaberg, The Santa Barbara Independent, June 2022
Review of beautiful small things (Lynx Project album featuring songs by Joel Balzun)
March 2017 – Lucky is perhaps the most distinct song on the album, featuring an incredibly effective opening based on noise, speech, and other techniques that realize one of the core themes of the album: the desire to speak and to be heard… the music […] makes it all the more so [heartbreaking]. ... My Light […] is also a musical standout, with an especially striking opening on the piano and haunting vocal part…
Sofía Rocha, I Care If You Listen/American Composers Forum, March 2022
Don Quichotte in Don Quichotte at Camacho’s Wedding - Opera Saratoga 2021
Due to indisposition, the scheduled Quichotte, [redacted], vividly mimed his part while baritone Joel Balzun doubled his duties as a shepherd with an impressive on-score performance showing style, agility, musical and linguistic precision. …Balzun and Naomi Brigell—a shepherdess here but Pedrillo at other shows—showed off the voices best trained and adapted for Baroque music.
David Shengold, Opera News, August 2021
[redacted] appeared on stage as Don Quichotte, but Joel Balzun sang the role from the side of the pavilion. Balzun did a commendable job: he was obviously well versed in the role, and his polished baritone is a particularly fine instrument. Balzun was also a sport, and he donned a hat and joined the chorus in the dancing and singing, which was his original assignment in this performance.
Rick Perdian, Seen and Heard International, July 2021
The scheduled Quichotte, was having vocal issues and so his part was divided. Baritone Joel Balzun sang the role with strength and security while standing at stage left, as [redacted] acted the role in costume. This meant that often Quichotte was acting on one side of the stage but his voice came from the other side, thus giving the effect of opera in surround sound.
Joseph Dalton, Times Union, July 2021
Betto/L’horloge comtoise in Gianni Schicchi/L’enfant et les sortilèges - Pacific Opera Project 2020
Joel Balzun regaled us with one of the best star turns of the day as Ravel’s Clock. Wedding uninhibited, goofy stage business to his ringing, imposing baritone, Mr. Balzun served notice that at this moment, the stage was his. Earlier, he contributed a firmly presented take on Puccini’s Betto.
James Sohre, Opera Today, January 2020
Joel Balzun, Betto in “Gianni Schicchi,” is a wonderfully hysterical Clock come to life in “L'Enfant.”
Gordon Williams, Operawire, January 2020
Soloist in A Wagnerian Idyll - Pittsburgh Festival Opera 2018
"Most impressive among the evening’s young artists was baritone Joel Balzun, an already mature artist with a voluminous sound that he had always under control, capable of scaling down and coloring the words for the meaning and emotive purposes."
Robert Croan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 2018
Joseph De Rocher in Dead Man Walking - Miami Music Festival 2017
“Joel Balzun, como el reo en el pabellón de la muerte, tuvo momentos brillantes y fue siempre muy creíble en su papel.” [“Joel Balzun, as the death row inmate, achieved brilliant moments, and in every way made his role believable.”]
Daniel Fernández, el Nuevo Herald, July 2017
“As De Rocher, the baritone Joel Balzun was the portrait of the slovenly, scary Death Row inmate, with shackles, tattoos and an exposed undershirt. With a stentorian voice, he managed his character’s transformation from the face of criminal menace glaring from the newspaper photos to a portrait of raw humanity, filled with fear, guilt and a wisp of hope that something could transform his life this late in the game.”
David Fleshler, South Florida Classical Review, July 2017
Husband in Amelia Goes to the Ball - Independent Opera Company 2018
As “Husband” in Amelia Goes to the Ball
“There was much to love, with outstanding and memorable vocal performances from Joel Balzun (The Husband, Amelia)...As [the] beleaguered hubby, Balzun was strong and suitably uppity, and both he and Ms. Beal managed to make their deeply flawed and not a little crazy characters loveable, somehow — and they sounded great, to boot.”
Lauri D. Goldenhersh, Lauri's List, March 2018
Albert in Werther - Independent Opera Company 2016
“Played with great sensitivity in his singing and his acting alike, baritone Joel David Balzun brought this role to life with a refined voice. He delivered a hopeful and affectionate 'Quelle priere de reconnaissance'.”
Yayra Sanchez, Lauri's List, December 2016
Keeper of the Madhouse in The Rake’s Progress - Pacific Opera Project 2016
“...Joel David Balzun's sober keeper of the madhouse [all] added fine character touches.”
Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, September 2016
“...Joel David Balzun [was] a memorable madhouse keeper...”
Maria Nockin, Opera Today, September 2016
Bass soloist in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 - Tanglewood Music Center 2016
“A capable group of TMC Vocal Fellows – Sarah Tuttle, Adriana Velinova, Quinn Middleman, Joel Balzun, and Keith Colclough – divided up the songs and delivered them with skill and directness.”
Jeremy Eichler, Boston Globe, August 2016
Cascada in The Merry Widow - Pacific Opera Project 2016
“...[Kyle Patterson] and Joel [Balzun] have some very fun Abbot & Costello-type bits throughout the opera...their banter of comedy and music [that] was just so much fun to watch. I loved his [Joel's] 'straight-man' routines and physical nature as he and Kyle really sparked some comic energy together.”
Lorenzo Marchessi, Geek Authority, March 2016
Review of Joel Balzun’s Miracle Ten-Zero-Two-Five-One
“At only 19, [Joel] Balzun shows much promise as a composer.”
Charles Velte, Daily Courier (Kelowna, BC), November 2010
“... Joel Balzun, was the winner of the NBO’s first Galaxie Rising Star Composers’ Competition for composers [under] on 35 with Miracle Ten-Zero-Two-Five-One, a very sophisticated piece...it’s clear that the state of new composition in Canada is healthy.”
Lloyd Dykk, straight.com (Vancouver, BC), November 2010
Review of Joel Balzun’s A Missing Generation (For Orchestra)
“With simple Cambodian melodies floating through the larger piece, [Joel] Balzun created a haunting and beautiful work that evoked the scale and scope of a people gutted by their government and the hope that sustains humanity even during chaos and horror. ...it was emotionally effective and well received. Balzun reflects the talent here in Alberta and I’ll look forward to hearing his future works.”
Andrea Brussa, Brussa Bravo! Legacy Program, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, June 2010
“...the Balzun work displays an impressive mastery of orchestral writing that reminds you of Hollywood epic (a la Exodus)-meets-Mahler, especially in the big play on the major-minor treatment that Balzun accords his own variant on Frere Jacques for the bulk of the piece. Ending on a jubilant note, A Missing Generation struck an obvious positive chord with many of the younger members of the audience - as well it should, given the buildup of excitement that came through in the writing and the CPO realization of it. Clearly, a composer to watch.”
Bob Clark, Calgary Herald, May 2010