RAINELLE KRAUSE
SOPRANO
BIOGRAPHY
Known for her pristine, fiery coloratura, soprano Rainelle Krause brings an unflinching ferocity coupled with a deeply truthful humanity to the stage. She recently impressed audiences and critics alike at her début with Nashville Opera in the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia, where she was hailed as “a dream” by Music City Review. Her signature role, Die Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte, was well-received at The Atlanta Opera, with Opera Magazine noting her “elegant” coloratura. Last season at English National Opera, Opera Magazine also praised her as “formidable”, her “bright, ringing coloratura…enough to instill fear into any living being.” The Guardian dubbed her voice “diamantine.” Previous seasons for Ms. Krause brought several significant appearances as Die Königin der Nacht at Royal Danish Opera, Dutch National Opera, Staatsoper Berlin Unter den Linden, Nashville Opera, and at Les Arts, València. She has also brought her in-demand Königin to Deutsche Oper Berlin, Theater Basel, Oper Köln, Opera Orchestre Montpellier Occitanie, North Carolina Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera (cover). This season, she reprises her celebrated Königin in company débuts with The Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, St. Louis Symphony, Opera Atelier, and presents a number of Mozart arias in concert with English National Opera.
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Other recent highlights include her guest artist appearance with English National Opera’s BBC Proms concert “Horrible Histories: ‘Orrible Opera”, soprano soloist for the Brevard Music Festival’s Carmina Burana under Maestra JoAnn Falletta, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera at Royal Danish Opera, the Princess in The Snow Queen at Concertgebouw Amsterdam under the baton of Kent Nagano, Tania in Al gran sole carico d'amore with Theater Basel, Pat Nixon in Nixon in China at The Princeton Festival, and featured artist for Opus Opera’s event, Mystique, a circus and opera collaboration.
Ms. Krause has been awarded First Place in the Fielder Grant Competition, Third Place and Audience Favorite in the Orpheus Competition, and has been chosen as one of four winners in the Texas Camerata’s Baroque Aria Competition. She was a finalist in the Lois Alba Competition in Houston as well as the International Mildred Miller Competition in Pittsburgh, a Regional Finalist with the Metropolitan National Council Auditions in New Orleans and St. Louis, and a semi-finalist with the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation and Gari Foundation competitions in New York City.
Some of Ms. Krause’s concert credits include a concert version of La Traviata with the Irving Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Plano Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Jauchzet Gott with members of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Vaughan Williams' Dona nobis pacem and Haydn's Pauken messe with the Amarillo Master Chorale, and Orff’s Carmina burana with the Plano Symphony.
Current as of June 12, 2025
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"...her [elegant] coloratura..." – Opera Magazine
Die Zauberflöte – “As the Queen of the night, Rainelle Krause sang ‘Der Hölle Rache’ with precision, her coloratura elegant.”
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"...quite breathtaking..." – ArtsATL and AJC
Die Zauberflöte – "Rainelle Krause brought a dramatic coloratura to the role of the Queen with laser-focused high notes and a pointillist exactitude in negotiating Mozart’s inhumanly difficult arias. It’s quite breathtaking, and Krause was rewarded with rapturous applause."
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"...her impressive coloratura and crystal-clear high notes were a dream." – Music City Review
Lucia di Lammermoor – “I cannot say enough about Rainelle’s constant, clear, healthy sound. The Mad Scene alone is over twenty minutes long, and her impressive coloratura and crystal-clear high notes were a dream.”
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"...[a] breathtaking soprano..." – The Frenetic Peripatetic
Lucia di Lammermoor – “I hoped to see Rainelle Krause on stage again. Those hopes were made real when I endured the threatening storms gathering outside to witness the breathtaking soprano in her role debut as the title character. Krause conveys the full gamut of emotion and expression as she adeptly vacillates from love and hope to despair and madness with her brilliant coloraturas. It seems that the challenge of a role debut has only served to ignite and inspire what might be something of a renaissance in a performer who could add another signature role to her impressive credits."
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“... a magical moment of excellent vocal skill…” – Cologne Magazine
Die Zauberflöte – “The Queen of the Night, ferociously sung by Rainelle Krause, was a real firecracker, earning ovations from the beginning. In her revenge aria, she chiseled the coloratura into the room, tossing the highest notes like bullets into the sky, a magical moment of excellent vocal skill."
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"...immense physical strength...[and] power..." – Bachtrack
Die Zauberflöte – "Rainelle Krause's Queen of the Night looked deliberately old and unattractive, yet she displayed immense physical strength delivering the much anticipated 'Der Hölle Rache' from a wheelchair. Her menace and immense power when calling upon the gods of vengeance, almost as if her life depended on it, was amazing."
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"...display[s] a gloriously effective delivery of...high notes and vocal dexterity..." – Daily Express
Die Zauberflöte – "The most impressive singing came from the Queen of the Night, played by American soprano Rainelle Krause, whose two main arias displayed a gloriously effective delivery of all the high notes and vocal dexterity these show-stoppers demand."
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"... Krause's fine coloratura…” – OperaMagazine.nl
The Snow Queen – “Rainelle Krause's fine coloratura soprano reached the balcony as Princess with the top notes unscathed.”
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"... expert singing and emotions..." – Broadway World
Die Zauberflöte– “However, the true standouts of this production are found in Rainelle Krause as Queen of the Night ... The Act II aria from the Queen of the Night is one of the most famous in history (according to this writer's opera fanatic friends). Krause sings this aria beautifully, and her voice soars. Sitting in the audience, one can feel the expert singing and emotions that Krause is portraying."
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"... Krause steals the show..." – Sceneblog.dk
U ballo in maschera – “And then there is the surprise. For it is Rainelle Krause who steals the scene as Oscar, in a trouser role… The American coloratura soprano Rainelle Krause's voice blares in the finest way through the big soundscape, and like her Queen of the Night in Barrie Kosky's MAGIC FLUTE in 2020, Krause steals the show when she arrives.”
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"... Krause fascinates..." – Deutschlandfunk
Al gran sole carico d’amore – “The female roles of the revolutionaries in "Al gran sole" demand from the sopranos the highest virtuosity in the highest possible tessitura over wide-ranging phrases. Rainelle Krause fascinates as a frightened, dying Tania Bunke.”