About Natalie
The Science and Art of Self-Expression
Melbourne-born Natalie Christie Peluso is an emerging researcher in the psychology and neuroscience of social intelligence, an internationally successful operatic soprano, and master voice teacher. She brings her unique expertise in breathing, voice, presence, and body awareness to both her scientific research and clients, combining the latest neuroscientific evidence with deep experiential and methodological expertise.
RESEARCH
Natalie Christie Peluso is an emerging social neuroscientist undertaking her PhD at The University of Queensland, under the supervision of Associate Professor Jessica Taubert and Professor Julie Henry. With over 20 years of international acclaim as an opera singer and voice teacher, Natalie channels this expertise by investigating how mind-body interactions impact social intelligence, with a particular focus on facial expressions and interoception. She is also an emerging specialist in the phenomenology and neuroscience of voluntary breathing, and its effects on cognition, emotion, interoception, and behaviour.
Natalie graduated in 2023 with First Class Honours from The University of Queensland (Bachelor of Psychological Science), adding to her Bachelor of Music from The University of Melbourne and her postgraduate studies in opera and voice at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
As an undergraduate she published two scientific papers (including as first, first-author), and has presented her work at conferences for both the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society (2023) and Australasian Psychophysiology Society (2022).
Natalie currently serves on the Executive Committees of the Australian Society for Psychophysiology, the Australian Music and Psychology Society, and the Committee to Promote Students Interests for the Society for Psychophysiological Research. She is also a member of the UQ Music, Health and Wellbeing research group (led by Professor Genevieve Dingle).
"Natalie’s Susanna in my production of “Le Nozze di Figaro” for Welsh National Opera and Opera Australia, was just about what any director would dream of… exquisitely sung and wonderfully acted. Natalie has great natural comedy, a fierce intelligence, and (which is completely unfair) she is uncommonly beautiful. She moves well too. In short – dazzling."
Neil Armfield
OPERATIC BIOGRAPHY
Helpmann Award nominee Natalie Christie Peluso captivated audiences and critics alike with her dynamic, effervescent stage presence and an inviting lyric soprano voice that was described by London critics as “full of youthful, delicious beauty” and “electrifying freshness.”
In Australia, her most recent opera appearances were in 2019, and included Athena in The Children’s Bach for the Canberra International Music Festival (recorded for ABC), both Euridice and Amor in Gluck's Orfeo with Opera Queensland/Circa, Hanna in Lehar The Merry Widow and Rose Maybud in Gilbert/Sullivan Ruddigore, both for Opera Queensland, Niece 2/Ellen Cover in Britten Peter Grimes, for Brisbane Festival/Opera Queensland, both Ottavia/Drusilla in Monteverdi Coronation of Poppea with Pinchgut Opera, and Adele in Die Fledermaus Opera Queensland and Queensland Music Festival.
Australian concert appearances include Four Last Songs Strauss, Pieces of 9/11 by Jake Heggy and Bach Cantata 32 for the Australian Festival of Chamber Music; Bach B Minor Mass conducted by Stephen Layton, Mahler Symphony No. 4 conducted by Simone Young and Handel Messiah, all with Queensland Symphony Orchestra; Rachmaninov The Bells, Fauré and Duruflé Requiems Brisbane Chorale; Soprano 1 Mozart Mass in C Minor Victoria Chorale; Górecki Symphony of Sorrowful Songs with Camerata of St. John's; and Canteloube Songs of the Auvergne with Geminiani Chamber Orchestra.
A favourite at Welsh National Opera, her roles there included Sr Constance The Carmelites, Sophie Der Rosenkavalier, Gilda Rigoletto, Eurydice Orphée et Eurydice, Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Adina L’elisir d’amore, Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, Zerlina Don Giovanni, Despina Cosi Fan Tutte, Adele Die Fledermaus, and Marzelline Leonora.
Elsewhere she received acclaim for her performance as Zerlina Don Giovanni for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras; the Soprano in Bach St. John Passion with English National Opera directed by Deborah Warner; and her multiple celebrated appearances as Susanna in Mozart Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Australia in 2004 and 2000.
International concert appearances include Handel Jephtha with RIAS Berlin and Marcus Creed at the Berlin Philharmonie, Soprano 1 Mozart Mass in C Minor with the Oslo Baroque, Mahler Symphony No. 4 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Couperin Leçons des Tenebres 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 Field’s and Windsor Castle in the Presence of HRH Prince Charles. She has recorded for BBC Radio Two and Three, RTE Ireland and the ABC, and her numerous accolades include winning the Australian Singing Competition Marianne Mathy Award and Grand Finalist in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.
After being based in London for most of her career, she returned to live in Australia with her husband and four children, and now calls Brisbane home. Future appearances are on hold for the foreseeable future, while Natalie undertakes her PhD at the University of Queensland in Social Neuroscience and Psychology.
SINGING CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
