"the radiant young soprano... floated velvet-gloved high notes"
"Best among the women, however, was newcomer Rachel Blaustein, who made a sensational company debut as Nannetta. The radiant young soprano... 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."
Washington Classical Review
About Rachel
German-American Soprano Rachel Blaustein was recently named a Grand Finalist in the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Rachel's exciting 25/26 season begins with her debut with Opera Montana as Viardot's titular Cendrillon followed by her appearance in the Art of Song Festival at the Colburn School curated by Mo. James Conlon and Kevin Murphy. She makes her debut with Virginia Symphony Orchestra in Handel's Messiah and returns to Chicago Opera Theater to cover Mistress Ford in Salieri's Falstaff. In 2026, she revives the role of Hodel in Crystal Manich’s production of Fiddler on the Roof with Austin Opera, a role she recently debuted with Cincinnati Opera. She joins Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in their workshop of Safe Haven (Tobias Picker & Arryeh Stollman) and makes an exciting return to Spoleto Festival USA as Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief and the soprano soloist in Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 alongside the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra.
Last season, she made a thrilling jump-in debut with Spoleto Festival USA as Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw, her role and house debut with Cincinnati Opera as Hodel in a new production of Fiddler on the Roof and joined the prestigious Ravinia Festival Steans Institute as a 2025 Vocal Fellow. She made her Austin Opera debut as Jocelyn Jordan in The Manchurian Candidate, joined the South Florida Symphony in Handel's Messiah, and returned to Carnegie Hall for Erica Glenn's premiere of The Worldwide Requiem. In recent seasons, Rachel made her role and house debut as Gilda in Rigoletto with Opera Delaware and Opera Baltimore to great acclaim, the title role in Rusalka with Pacific Opera Project, and joined The Metropolitan Opera workshop of Mason Bates' The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay in the role of Sarah Kavalier. She is on the 2024 Grammy Nominated album (Best Opera Recording), The Lord of Cries (John Corigliano), in the role of Autonoe.
