Soprano Natalia Santaliz has been praised by El Nuevo Día for “angelic phrasing” and her “diaphanous voice, pristine diction, and mastery of colors” in recent performances of opera and concert repertoire. In the 2024-25 season, Santaliz made her Metropolitan Opera debut as one of the Niñas in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar.
Previously, Santaliz was a Resident Artist at Opera San José, where she performed the role of Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff and in the title role in the company’s production of Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella, “with a sweet lyric-soprano and youthful charm” that made her “an ideal fit with Deutscher’s musical palette” (Seen & Heard International). She also performed with the company the “Somewhere” solo in West Side Story while covering the role of Maria, and covered Belinda in Dido and Aeneas. In 2022, Santaliz performed the role of Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the Berkshire Opera Festival. Additional roles include Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Mařenka in The Bartered Bride by Bedřich Smetana.
Santaliz performed as part of the Gerdine Young Artist program at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, where she covered the role of Papagena in The Magic Flute; and with the Manetti Shrem Opera Program of Festival Napa Valley, where she sang Nella and covered Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi.
A native of Puerto Rico, Santaliz is a proud advocate for her musical and cultural heritage. She has performed as part of the concert series Música Abierta with Pro Arte Musical, Inc. whose mission is to teach children and special communities in Puerto Rico about music, and was awarded by that organization the Roberto I. Ferdman Award. In recent seasons, Santaliz has performed the role of Camila in Frenesí by Johanny Navarro at the Cuartel de Ballajá in Puerto Rico; was the soprano soloist in John Rutter’s Requiem with the Puerto Rico Symphony under the direction of Rafael Enrique Irizarry; and sang on the program The Blue Project: Puerto Rican Folk Music presented by New World Symphony. She has been a guest artist with Ópera de Puerto Rico, Teatro de la Ópera, Fundación Puertorriqueña de Zarzuela y Opereta, Taller de Opera del Conservatorio de Música, and Teatro Lírico del Oeste.
In the 2024-25 season, Santaliz performs the role of the Angel in Alberto Guidobaldi’s El Auto Sacramental de Los Reyes Magos with the Coro Nacional de Puerto Rico, and sings the soprano solos in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico under conductor Emilio Colón.
After completing her bachelor’s degree in music from the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, Santaliz earned her master’s degree from the Mannes School of Music. She was a member of the Martina Arroyo Foundation’s “Prelude to Performance” program, and participated in the Sherrill Milnes Voice Studio as part of the Savannah Voice Festival in Georgia. Her voice teachers have included Ilca López and Beth Roberts.
February 2025
