RACHEL BLAUSTEIN
SOPRANO
BIOGRAPHY
Praised for her “brilliant lyric soprano," Rachel Blaustein is quickly gaining recognition for her riveting stage presence and innate musicality. Rachel was one of the ten national finalists for the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, earning a spot in the next generation of opera stars and winning the Fernand Lamesch National Finalist Award!
Last season, 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. This season, she sings Gilda in Rigoletto with Opera Delaware and Opera Baltimore, joins Opera Omaha for their Opera Outdoors concert, presents a recital at Academy Art Museum, and joins the Indianapolis Symphony for Handel’s Messiah. [read more...]
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.”