RACHEL BLAUSTEIN
SOPRANO
BIOGRAPHY
Praised for her “brilliant lyric soprano," Rachel Blaustein is quickly gaining recognition for her riveting stage presence and innate musicality in a variety of repertoire ranging from the baroque to the contemporary. Rachel was one of ten national finalists for the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, winning the Fernand Lamesch National Finalist Award and earning a spot in the next generation of opera stars.
Ms. Blaustein’s varied 2024-2025 season includes her début with Austin Opera as Jocelyn Jordan in The Manchurian Candidate, her début with South Florida Symphony in Handel’s Messiah, the title role in Rusalka at Pacific Opera Project, and an exciting role and company début with Cincinnati Opera in summer 2025. In the last season, Rachel made her role debut as Gilda in Rigoletto with Opera Delaware and Opera Baltimore. Tim Smith, former arts critic for the Baltimore Sun, praised her “lovely, pearly thread of tone that helped her get to the very heart of the character.” She also joined Opera Omaha for their Opera Outdoors concert, performed as Sarah Kavalier in a workshop of Kavalier & Clay with The Metropolitan Opera, presented a recital at Academy Art Museum, and debuted with the Indianapolis Symphony for Handel’s Messiah. In previous seasons, Ms. Blaustein performed the role of Nanetta in Falstaff with Maryland Lyric Opera, Countess Almaviva in Annapolis Opera’s production of Le nozze di Figaro, and Pamina in The Magic Flute for Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ digital series, and she made her Carnegie Hall début as the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana. Other concert engagements included Mozart’s Requiem with New Choral Society, a Maria Callas concert in Greece with MidAmerica Productions, appearances with Maryland Opera, and Gala concerts with Opera Edwardsville and the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. Rachel also made a recording of The Lord of Cries, which had its commercial release in August 2023 and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
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CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"... a sensational company debut …” – Washington Classical Review
Falstaff– “Best among the women, however, was newcomer Rachel Blaustein, who made a sensational company debut as Nannetta. The radiant young soprano, who hails from Olney and did her graduate work at the Peabody Institute, floated velvet-gloved high notes in this crucial role. She flirted innocently in the stolen moments with her lover, Fenton, and made a resplendent fairy queen in the opera’s gorgeous final scene."
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"...Blaustein brought a sweetness to Micól... – The New York Times
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – "The soprano Rachel Blaustein brought a sweetness to Micòl that persevered through her character’s capriciousness."
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"...Blaustein making a stellar NYCO debut..." – DC Metro Theater Arts
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – " soprano Rachel Blaustein, making a stellar NYCO debut as Micól (who senses the doom and the likelihood of being the last in the long Finzi-Contini line)."
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"...Blaustein's performance blended vocal sincerity with physical guile..." – Tulsa World
Gianni Schicchi – "Blaustein performs the opera's best-known piece, the aria "O mio babbino caro," well; her character is using this effusive paean to convince her father to give his blessing to her romance, and Blaustein's performance blended vocal sincerity with physical guile."
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"Her brilliant lyric soprano animated her first act Letter Scene..." – San Diego Story
Eugene Onegin – "Rachel Blaustein gave us a Tatyana to cherish, at first a complex mix of youthful reticence and wildly impassioned outpourings that grew over the opera’s course into a passionate, mature woman who knows her own mind and finds the strength to carry out her resolve. Her brilliant lyric soprano animated her first act Letter Scene, and it turned into gleaming, steely resolve in her final confrontation with Onegin."
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"...clear soprano often carried the plot..." – Urban Milwaukee
Dido and Aeneas – “Floating in and out of the chorus, as do many in this production, was Rachel Blaustein, whose clear soprano often carried the plot in the Purcell piece.”
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"...her voluptuous phrasing soared..." – San Diego Story
Concert at Opera NEO – “With apparent ease her voluptuous phrasing soared into her gleaming high register.”