EARLY CAREER
Since beginning her career in 2009, Latvian-born Mezzo Soprano, Natalja Sticco (nee: Cernohajeva) has appeared in over 220 performances of 30 different operas across Europe, the Middle East, and North America.
Natalja attended the prestigious Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music where she studied Vocal Performance. There, she earned a coveted spot as a member of Opera Studio ‘Figaro,’ performing the roles of Filippyevna (Eugene Onegin), Kastcheevna (Kaschey the Immortal), Death (chamber opera Stalin and Death) and while still a student at JVLMA, Natalja was selected for the chorus of the Latvian National Opera & Ballet and it’s first Young Artist Program under the Direction of Andrejs Zagars. As a young LNO artist she performed the roles of Orlofsky (die Fledermaus) and mastered the role of Olga (Eugene Onegin).
She continued performing as a chorus member from 2009-2017 in LNO’s major productions, including those featuring fellow Lativans, Soprano Kristine Opolais and Mezzo-Soprano Elina Garanca. Her touring experience includes performances at Teatro Calderón, Vallladolid, Spain (Macbeth, 2010); National Opera and Ballet of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus (Traviata, 2010); Rahvusooper Estonia, Talllinn, Estonia (Eugene Onegin, M'dame Butterfly, 2011); Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, Russia (Eugene Onegin, Lucia di Lammermoor, 2013), Monte Carlo (Carmen 2013), and the Royal Opera House Muscat, Muscat, Oman (Der fliegende Holländer, 2013).
LATVIA to AMERICA
Natalja immigrated to the United States in 2018 where she launched the next phase of her music career as a soloist, concert performer and recording artist. In 2019, she made her US opera debut in Bizet’s Carmen, singing the role of Mercedes which was soon followed by her debut in the lead role of Baba in Menotti’s The Medium.
Having spent her childhood living under the Soviet Union, and inspired by “The Singing Revolution” that began Latvia’s journey to Independence in the early 1990’s, Natalja released her debut single “Requiem for a Soldier (Theme from the HBO series Band of Brothers)” in 2020. “Requiem” is her personal tribute and song of gratitude to the generations of people whose sacrifices for the cause of freedom (including her great-grandfathers who both died in WWII, her husband who is a permanently-disabled US Air Force Veteran who served in the first Gulf War and her stepson, an Active-Duty Captain in the US Army) paved-the-way for her to pursue her own dreams. Later in 2020 she released her self-titled album “Natalja,” a collection of her favorites arias.
Natalja holds a Bachelor Degree in Vocal Performance from Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music as well as a BSc in Information Technology and a MSc in IT Engineering, both from Riga Technical University in Latvia.
Death (Chamber opera Stalin and Death)
Die Vögel
Der fliegende Holländer
Lucia di Lammermoor
Madame Butterfly
Suor Angelica
Nabucco
Concert with Marina Rebeka
Il trovatore
