Operatic Highlights
Melbourne-born Natalie Peluso (previously Natalie Christie) achieved thrilling early success as a precociously talented young opera singer admired for her warm and youthful lyric soprano and superb acting ability. After winning The Australian Singing Competition as recipient of the Marianne Mathy Award, Natalie left Australia for London and a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she made her debut as Musetta in La Bohème for British Youth Opera at the Royal Festival Hall, followed by Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring at the Guildhall. On graduating, she began her close five-year association with Welsh National Opera as Constance in Phyllida Lloyd's production of The Carmelites, and immediately returned to Opera Australia as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro — a performance so rapturously received that one critic raved it was a "definitive portrait that seems to have been written for her."
Natalie's close association with Welsh National Opera continued with roles such as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier (Strauss) conducted by Carlo Rizzi, Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, Eurydice in Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice with conductor Richard Hickox, Adina in L'elisir d'amore (Donizetti), Adele in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, and Marzelline in Beethoven's Leonora conducted by Yves Abel. Mozart roles included Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni conducted by Tugan Sokhiev, and Despina in Così Fan Tutte.
Elsewhere she received acclaim for her performance as Zerlina in Don Giovanni for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras; the Soprano in Bach's St. John Passion with English National Opera directed by Deborah Warner and conducted by Stephen Layton; and her celebrated appearances as Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Australia, conducted by Jane Glover and directed by Neil Armfield.
Concert appearances include Handel's Jephtha with RIAS Berlin and conductor Marcus Creed at the Berlin Philharmonie; Soprano 1 in Mozart's Mass in C Minor with the Oslo Baroque; Mahler Symphony No. 4 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; and Couperin's Leçons des Ténèbres at the 1998 Aldeburgh Festival with Skip Sempé and Capriccio Stravagante. She has appeared in recital at Wigmore Hall, Batignano Festival in Italy, Aldeburgh Festival, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Windsor Castle in the presence of HRH Prince (now HRH King) Charles. She has recorded for BBC Radio Two and Three, RTE Ireland and the ABC, and her accolades include the Australian Singing Competition Marianne Mathy Award and Grand Finalist in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.
Natalie Christie Peluso (right) as Susanna in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in the beloved John Copley production for Opera Australia (2000). From far left: Rosemary Gunn as Marcelline, Donald Shanks as Don Basilio, and Richard Armstrong as Figaro.
Australian Highlights
In Australia, Natalie's most recent opera appearances include Athena in The Children's Bach by Andrew Schultz, based on Helen Garner's novella, recorded live by the ABC for the Canberra International Music Festival; both Euridice and Amor in Gluck's Orfeo with Opera Queensland in collaboration with world-leading Circa; Hanna in Franz Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow and Rose Maybud in Gilbert & Sullivan's Ruddigore, both for Opera Queensland; Niece 2/Ellen Cover in Britten's Peter Grimes for the Brisbane Festival, produced by Opera Queensland; the three roles of Virtù, Ottavia and Drusilla in Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea with Pinchgut Opera; and Adele in Die Fledermaus for Opera Queensland and Queensland Music Festival.
Recent concert appearances include Four Last Songs (Strauss), Pieces of 9/11 (Jake Heggie), and Bach's Cantata 32 for the Australian Festival of Chamber Music; Bach's B Minor Mass conducted by Stephen Layton; Mahler's Symphony No. 4 conducted by Simone Young; and Handel's Messiah, all with Queensland Symphony Orchestra; Rachmaninov's The Bells, Fauré and Duruflé Requiems with Brisbane Chorale; Soprano 1 in Mozart's Mass in C Minor with Victoria Chorale; and Górecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs with Camerata of St. John's in Brisbane.
