About Natalie
Natalie Christie Peluso is an emerging researcher 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.
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Academic Awards
2024
Joseph Sleight Bursary,
The University of Queensland
2024
Best Platform Presentation,
Australasian Society for Social and Affective Neuroscience annual meeting
2022 & 2023
Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence,
The University of Queensland
Operatic Career
"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, Australian director
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.”
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In Australia, recent opera appearances include 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.
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Recent 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.
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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.
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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 celebrated appearances as Susanna in Mozart Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Australia.
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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.
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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.