Armenian Performing Arts Sydney

Natalie Aroyan is an Armenian-Australian Soprano. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma of Opera from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and a double-degree in Business and I.T. from the Australian Catholic University, Sydney.

In 2008 Natalie was awarded first place in both The Opera Foundation New York Competition and the Herald Sun Aria Competition. She commenced her Professional Studies Diploma at Mannes College, New York, in 2009 studying with Soprano Ruth Falcon and in January 2010, performed the role of Amelia, in the Opera Studio Scenes Production of Un Ballo in Maschera, as well as the role of Fiordiligi in their main stage production of Cosi fan Tutte conducted by Maestro Joseph Colanero. In her final year at Mannes she sang Annina in Menotti's The Saint of Bleecker Street and Alice in Verdi's Falstaff, also under the baton of Maestro Colaneri.

As well as attending the "Solti Te Kanawa Accademia" program in Tuscany, Italy, where she worked with both Maestro Richard Bonynge and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Natalie has worked with Maestra Renata Scotto in her 2010 Tampa Masterclass and participated in The American Institute of Music (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, where she won first place and was also awarded the audience vote in the 49th Meistersinger Competition Finals.

On her return to Australia in 2011, she was awarded first place in The Italian Opera Foundation competition which enabled her to spend a year in Italy studying with soprano, Mierall Freni in her studio at the Accademia of Bel Cando in Modena, Italy. Following this, Natalie was invited as a Guest Artist to cover the title role of Gluck's Armide for the joint Lindemann/Julliard Production in New York, USA.

Natalie is now a principal artist with Opera Australia where her roles have included Mimì (La Bohéme), Desdemona (Otello), Micaëla (Carmen), Annina (La Traviata) and High Priestess (Aida) and covering Elisabetta in Don Carlos. She has also performed Mimì and the role of Marguerite (Faust) for West Australian Opera, Micaëla for Sugi Opera Company, Korea and a recital at The Concourse, Chatswood, to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, as well as making her debut with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performing the Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky).

New York based pianist Hayk Arsenyan has appeared in numerous recitals throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas, in venues such as Carnegie Hall (New York), Salle Cortot (Paris), Cadillac-Shanghai Concert Hall (China), Kumin Hall (Tokyo), Petranka Mozarteum (Prague), Auditorio Delibes (Valladolid), Dar-Al-Assad Opera House (Damascus), Sala Cervantes (Havana), MoBU (Sao Paolo), Tchaikovsky Hall (Moscow), Philippines National Museum (Bacolod), and televised recitals at the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, the Phillips Collection Series in Washington DC and at the Nixon Presidential Museum in Los Angeles.

At the age of 11 Mr. Arsenyan made his debut at the Armenian Philharmonic performing his own Requiem for the piano and orchestra. At the age of 17, he made his European debut as a soloist with the Radio France National Philharmonic Orchestra and was awarded a platinum medal by the City of Paris. In 2007, Mr. Arsenyan debuted at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall performing with Pinchas Zukerman and the Manhattan Chamber Sinfonia.

A long-time professor at NYU Tisch School, Dr. Arsenyan has presented guest lectures and masterclasses at universities and conservatories around the globe, such as University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia, the Hong Kong University, Waseda University in Tokyo, Manhattan School of Music in NY, University of Texas in Austin, and National Conservatory in Damascus. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa and a Master’s degree from the Gnessins Music Academy in Moscow. In 2007 he received a full-tuition Yevgeny Kissin award for Professional Studies at Manhattan School of Music in New York. Mr. Arsenyan also studied the piano at École Normale Supérieure de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot.