Paris: “The City of Lights”

Conductor | Michael Wheatley
Soprano | Natalie Buickians

Claude Debussy – Petite Suite

Jules Massenet – “Je suis encore” from Manon

Erik Satie – “Je te veux”

Henri Duparc – “L’invitation au voyage”

Charles Gounod – “Dieu! quel frisson” from Roméo et Juliette

Hector Berlioz – March to the Scaffold

Maurice Ravel – Mother Goose Suite

Camille Saint-Saëns – “Bacchanale” from Samson et Dalila

Click me! —> Composers in Context Timeline

ARTIST BIO

Natalie Buickians, Soprano

With a “timbre of melodious, bell-like clarity” (Rochester City Newspaper), Armenian-American soprano Natalie Buickians is a burgeoning young talent with immense vocal versatility and musicality. She is a recent winner of the Metropolitan National Council Competition, Los Angeles District and a participant in SongStudio 2020 at Carnegie Hall under the direction of soprano Renée Fleming. She competed in the Aram Khachaturian International Competition where she took top jury prizes, 2nd in the Friends of Eastman Opera Aria Competition, and 3rd in the Jesse Kneisel Lieder Competition. 

In 2018, Natalie made her European debut in the role of Suor Genovieffa in Puccini's Suor Angelica. Her previous operatic engagements include the role of First Lady in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with Vivace, Giulietta in Offenbach's Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Napa Music Festival, Elle in Poulenc's La Voix Humaine, Susanna in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and the Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, with Eastman Opera Theater. As an undergraduate, she performed the roles of Fanny in Rossini’s La Cambiale di Matrimonio and Mrs. Ford in the West-Coast premiere of Antonio Salieri’s Falstaff. 

An avid recitalist, Natalie has performed numerous times in the Eastman Bach Cantata Series, Eastman Collegium Musicum and has served as soloist for the Voices Ensemble, First Inversion, and the Claremont Symphony Orchestra. Some notable solo engagements include J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Mass in A major and the Mass in B minor, Haydn’s Creation, Händel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem. 

Natalie is a recent graduate of doctoral program at the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Kathryn Cowdrick. She completed her master’s degree at Eastman under the tutelage of Robert Swensen. While in school, Natalie had the privilege of participating in master classes given by Graham Johnson, Mira Zakai, Dawn Upshaw, Martin Katz, Roger Vignoles and Jeffrey Thomas. Natalie served as adjunct voice faculty at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and taught primary and secondary lessons at the University of Rochester. 

Making her home in Los Angeles, Natalie sings with the Pacific Chorale as well as the Long Beach Camerata and is a teaching artist with the Pacific Chorale Academy. She serves as an adjunct faculty member at Azusa Pacific University as well as Cal State University of Los Angeles and maintains a private studio.