Natasha Gesto

Biography

Natasha Isabella Gesto is a young Australian-Uruguayan Soprano currently in her first postgraduate year of Opera Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music studying under Dr. Rowena Cowley. Natasha is a proud recipient of the ‘Greenberg-Gurney-Jensen’ scholarship and the ‘Henderson Traveller’s Scholarship’. Natasha has completed her Bachelor of Classical Voice at the Sydney Conservatorium, and during her undergraduate studies was a recipient of the ‘Helen Myers Scholarship’.

Natasha has been described as having a “sumptuously gifted voice,” (Dr Graham Johnson OBE), and her craft has taken form in her involvement in multiple ensembles. Natasha was the soprano soloist for the Sydney Conservatorium’s production of Poulenc’s Gloria conducted by Elizabeth Scott, and Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb conducted by Paul Stanhope (2021). Natasha also performed as the soprano soloist for the St. Stephens’ Uniting Church performance of Haydn’s Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo (2021), and recently had the pleasure of performing the title role in Handel’s Athalia with Concordia Ensemble (2021). In 2020 Natasha was the soprano soloist in the Sydney Conservatorium’s performance of Mozart’s Requiem in D minor conducted by Elizabeth Scott. Natasha has also had the opportunity to perform for the Demant Dreikurs Competition as a Semi Finalist in 2020, and as a Finalist in 2021. At the Sydney Eisteddfod in 2019, Natasha placed 1st in the coveted ‘Operatic Aria’ category and 2nd in ‘French Song’.

Natasha has been involved in various opera productions during her Tme at the Conservatorium. She debuted the role of ‘Francesca the Fox’ in the premiere season of the recent Australian opera Pinocchio, appearing on the ABC nationally televised breakfast show to promote the performance, and more recently touring rural NSW with the operatic production. Natasha has also debuted the role of Nellie Melba in the new Australian biographical opera Percy by John MaWhews and Margery Smith produced by the Sydney Conservatorium under the direction of Dr. Anke Höppner-Ryan and Barry Ryan OAM (2022). Later this year Natasha will perform the role of Miss Jessel from Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with The Cooperative Opera Company.

Natasha is delighted to be embarking on an international opportunity to perform the role of La Contessa in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with the Prague Summer Nights Festival.