Aldo Baldin

Aldo Baldin was born in Urussanga, Santa Catarina. A child prodigy in music, he was awarded a scholarship in Brazil for studies in piano and cello. He learned singing with Heloisa Nemoto Vergara and cello with Jean-Jacques Pagnot at the Music School of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Porto Alegre. He graduated in vocal studies alongside Roberto Miranda and Eliane Sampaio from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Conductor Karl Richter was instrumental in securing a scholarship from DAAD for Baldin to study with Martin Gründler at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt, where he received a Performing Arts degree. He continued to study with Margarethe von Winterfeldt in Berlin and participated in summer courses with Conchita Badia and Noemi Perugia in Paris.[2]

Baldin in the role of Idamantes in Morart's Idomeneo

Edith Mathis, Baldin and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau recording Haydn's Die Schöpfung (London, 1980)

While still studying, Baldin was already active as a concert and oratorio soloist and Lied interpreter and was also in demand as a recording artist for radio and record companies.

His career as an opera singer began at the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern, in 1975, and soon led to the Mannheim National Theatre. In 1980, he debuted at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and, in 1981, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He was also hired as a guest performer at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at other internationally known opera houses.[3] He undertook extended concert tours, which brought him to France, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Israel, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Iceland, the USA and South America. He worked with conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Helmuth Rilling, Herbert von Karajan, Rolf Beck, Karl Richter, Isaac Karabtchevsky and Peter Schreier. With Neville Marriner, Baldin recorded Haydn's Die Schöpfung (Philips Records - 1981 Grammy Winner[4]) and Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Le nozze di Figaro (Philips - 1986 Grammy Nomination[5]).

The great versatility of his voice enabled him to perform music from the Renaissance to contemporary. In opera, he focused on Mozart, Donizetti and Rossini; in concert, he focused on Bach's music, particularly the role of the Evangelist, but also works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Bruckner, Rossini and Verdi. Baldin's song repertoire covers not only German Lieder, but also the Spanish, Italian, and French literature, as well as songs by contemporary Brazilian composers.

Baldin teaching at the Bach Academy of Buenos Aires (1993)

Among other institutions, Baldin taught at the music academies of Blumenau, Brazil, in 1975. From 1978 to 1980, he was a lecturer in vocal music at the Musikhochschule of Heidelberg and, in 1983, he became a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. His students included Reginaldo Pinheiro, Fernando Portari, Roberto Saccà, Marc Marshall, Hernán Iturralde, Ulf Bästlein, Hans Christoph Begemann, Georg Heckel, Winfried Toll and Ralf Willershäuser.

Aldo Baldin died in Waldbronn, on January 5, 1994, at age 49.

In 2011, after receiving the Research and Development of Feature Film award from the Cinemateca Catarinense, filmmaker Yves Goulart started a research on Aldo Baldin's life and career to make his biographical documentary. The film title is Aldo Baldin - A Life for Music. It is under production and expected to be released in 2024.[8]

Baldin's discography covers a wide range of recordings of oratorios, Lieder and operas on well-known labels. He used to work regularly with the world's noted conductors and orchestras and performed at international music festivals, as well as in nearly all great concert halls and opera houses in the world.

• Bach: several Bach cantatas, mainly with Helmuth Rilling
• Gaetano Donizetti: Messa da Requiem, with Miguel Angel Gomez Martinez, Bamberger Symphoniker (Orfeo)
• Haydn: Die Schöpfung, with Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (Philips)
• Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, with Neville Marriner (Philips)

• Aldo Baldin at AllMusic
• Aldo Baldin discography at Discogs