ACCLAIM
RECENT PRESS
The Old Maid and the Thief
LAETITIA | SPOLETO FESTIVAL, USA
"Miss Todd's maid, Laetitia, was portrayed by the soprano Rachel Blaustein, who sang with excellent spoofing dramatic power needed to introduce the beggar, Bob ('a MAN!'), and threw off high D's with the lightness and agility of a coloratura. When she was daydreaming about Bob, Blaustein settled into her true voice-warm and expressive - in the aria 'Steal Me, Sweet Thief.' For those craving 'chill-factor moments,' Blaustein provided them in the two high B flat climaxes."
Opera News
"Rachel Blaustein was Miss Todd’s maid Laetitia, as thirsty for love and adventure as her employer. The opera’s best-known aria is “Steal Me, Sweet Thief,” in which Laetitia expresses her hopes to be whisked away by Bob so that, come what may, she has tasted romance before time erases her youth and beauty. Blaustein captured Laetitia’s longings to perfection with her creamy, radiant soprano. She is also a wonderful comedian, zestfully engaging in Miss Todd’s crime spree and then robbing her blind to finance her life on the run with Bob."
Classical Voice America
"The aria performed by Blaustein gave me chills.'
Jasper Project
"The main event is the stellar cast [...] In this production, these top-tier operatic artists are not training their expert voices on abject heartbreak, though their characters may want you to feel their pain. Instead, the performers are having one hell of a laugh, though never at the cost of their serious artistic chops. Sizable comedic talents each, they camp and trill and beam and scurry and mug, at one minute holding banisters to form a staircase and at another belting out world-class notes."
Charleston City Paper
"So the best theatre at Spoleto this year will likely remain director Daisy Evans’ remarkable reclamation of festival founder Gian Carlo Menotti’s 1939 radio opera, The Old Maid and the Thief, for the Dock Street Theatre stage. "
Broadway World
"Opening night for this very accessible opera that comes across more like brisk and thrilling mystery theater received a very long standing ovation."
Post and Courier
Knoxville: Summer of 1915
"Soprano Rachel Blaustein then transported the audience with her lofty, lyric delivery of Knoxville, Summer of 1915, the work by English composer Samuel Barber created from a James Agee poem."
Culture South
SPOLETO FESTIVAL, USA
Fiddler on the Roof
HODEL | CINCINNATI OPERA, AUSTIN OPERA
"Blaustein - who made a memorable impression in Austin Opera's 24-25 season at Jocelyn in The Manchurian Candidate - again demonstrated the clarity of her voice. Her declarations of love for Perchik rang with confidence and warmth, while her parting from her father was colored by controlled, unembellished sorrow. She navigated the emotional contrast with notable poise."
Parterre Box
"My heart yearned with Rachel Blaustein's Hodel as she journeyed "Far From the Home I Love," sung in a plaintive soprano tone that could fit comfortably alongside any classical aria."
Austin Chronicle
"Pandolfo and Blaustein's duet, "Now I Have Everything," though a musical-theater number, took a fresh dimension when sung by two operatic voices. For an audience accustomed to opera, the blend of fuller vocal production with Broadway lyricism was especially appealing, creating one of the evening's most striking moments."
Parterre Box
"Manich and Mirageas assembled a cast with opera-worthy voices, most of whom are successful at leaving the operatic vocal bombast behind and letting the simplicity of the composer Jerry Bock’s tunes guide the way. Finding that balance is difficult, but the singers playing Tevye and Golde’s three oldest daughters – Rachel Kobernick (Tzeitel), Rachel Blaustein (Hodel) and Jennifer Zetlan (Chava) – mastered it."
Cincinnati Enquirer
"The three main sisters Tzeitel played by Rachel Kobernick, Hodel played by Rachel Blaustein and Chava played by Jennifer Zetlan provide the heart of this production. It is through their determination for a better life and a choice in life that the entire town and soon nation begin to fight for that choice. Kobernick, Blaustein and Zetlan’s rendition of Matchmaker is full of hope and promise for a different tomorrow."
The League of Cincinnati Theatres
Rigoletto
GILDA | OPERA DELAWARE, OPERA BALTIMORE
"As Gilda, soprano Rachel Blaustein produced a lovely, pearly thread of tone that helped her get to the very heart of the character. Her way of shading phrases with coloristic nuance (and adding elegant flourishes to Caro nome) added to her poetic portrayal."
Tim Smith, Former Arts Critic of the Baltimore Sun
"I have become a big fan of soprano Rachel Blaustein who sang the role of Gilda. She soared beautifully in her upper register; her singing was gorgeous."
OperaGene
"Full of hope and promise for a different tomorrow."
The League of Cincinnati Theatres
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
MICÓL | NEW YORK CITY OPERA
"The soprano Rachel Blaustein brought a sweetness to Micòl that persevered through her character’s capriciousness."
The New York Times
"Soprano Rachel Blaustein, as Giorgio's unrequited love, Micol Finzi-Contini, also made a strong impression with her lyric sound and smart presentation."
Broadway World
"…and 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)…"
DC Theater Arts
"Opposite him, Blaustein had a rounded, gentle tone and elegant phrasing, while still able to express anguish."
NY Classical Review
"Micol, sung beautifully by Rachel Blaustein, seems immune to the world about her."
Berkshire Fine Arts
"As Micól Finzi-Contini, soprano Rachel Blaustein was a romantic, determined young woman with a thirst for adventure and a voice as fresh and exciting as the character she created."
Seen and Heard International
"Vocally, she was well cast. Her lyric voice had a carefree lilt, perfect for the daughter of the richest family in Ferrara, and this came across beautifully in the letter-writing scene as she narrates the words she will send to Giorgio... The “rich girl” who is careless with hearts is a trope, and a less-skilled actor could fall into the stereotype trap. Blaustein stayed far from that pitfall."
Opera Wire
"Brightly voluptuous soprano Rachel Blaustein, responded with a heartfelt performance."
Musical America
Falstaff
NANNETTA | MARYLAND LYRIC OPERA
"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."
Washington Classical Review
"…the most impressive singing was by Ms. Blaustein, new to the MDLO stage, who floated frequently and beautifully in her high range."
OperaGene
"In her second act “Fairy Queen” aria, Nannetta [Blaustein] provides a moment of exquisite lyricism."
DC Theater Arts
Ravinia Festival: In Recital
"Soprano Rachel Blaustein displayed a real feel for art song, starting with her expressive, a cappella take on the opening Jewish chant “Ani ma’amin” alongside tenor Evan Kastefes and continuing with the stunning, faraway quality she brought to Korngold’s “Sonnet for Vienna,” shaping the final line with artful, soothing swells."
Classical Voice America
The Turn of the Screw
MISS JESSEL | SPOLETO FESTIVAL, USA
"At the opening performance, Rachel Blaustein evocatively sings the role of Miss Jessel."
Charleston City Paper
"Rachel Blaustein, who sang the role from offstage […] sounded sepulchral."
Broadway World
The Lord of Cries
AUTONOE | THE SANTA FE OPERA, ODYSSEY OPERA, PENTATONE RECORDS
"“…were all excellent. Even better were Leah Brzyski, Rachel Blaustein, and Felicia Gavilanes as the three sisters, eerie and prophetic in their amalgamation of Dracula’s vampire women and Euripides’s crazed maenads."
Boston Globe
"As the ‘odd sisters,’ Sopranos Leah Bryski and Rachel Blaustein and mezzo-soprano Felicia Gavilanes sang with hypnotic tonal blend and stratospheric range. Their collective sense of character - by turns playful, cunning, and alluring - was spot on."
Boston Classical Review
"But it is the un-dead that create the drama. The “Three weird Sisters,” attendants of Dionysus, were sung by apprentice artists Leah Brzyski, Rachel Blaustein and Megan Moore, who gave a class in ensemble singing such than no one could be judged individually. The trio span the full range of the female voice, with extreme highs and growling lows used strategically by Corigliano and sung with fierce intensity by the young artists."
Sharps & Flatirons
"Leah Bryzski, Rachel Blaustein, and Megan Moore give feverish passion and ardent voice to the three attendants."
Dallas News
"“As “three weird sisters,” sopranos Leah Bryzski and Rachel Blaustein, and mezzo soprano Megan Moore sang their difficult passages with admirable control and grace."
Opera Today
"They regularly appear, sometimes in the foreground, sometimes blended into the orchestra, to comment on the action and prod it forward. It is an effect that in lesser hands might seen gimmicky, but which he deployed so well that one looked forward to its return."
Boston Musical Intelligencer
The Manchurian Candidate
"Rachel Blaustein as Jocelyn added emotional gravity to the production, offering a deeply sorrowful tone during the “We Are Safe” duet with Raymond."
Parterre Box
Austin Opera
Awakenings
RUTH | OPERA THEATRE OF ST. LOUIS | WORLD PREMIERE
"Rachel Blaustein’s crystalline soprano provided much pleasure as the social worker Ruth."
Opera Today
"Soprano Rachel Blaustein’s social worker…[was a] sympathetic presence."
Opera Wire
Le nozze di Figaro
CONTESSA | ANNAPOLIS OPERA
"The Countess is the most sympathetic role in the opera and has some of the most beautiful arias. I have seen soprano Rachel Blaustein, who played the role, several times […] She has a lovely soprano voice and sings beautifully, maneuvering easily in her higher register. My takeaway from this performance is that she is no longer an emerging opera star; soprano Rachel Blaustein has arrived."
OperaGene
"Rachel Blaustein gives a deep emotion to the Countess. Her love for him [the Count] brings her pain, yet she works with Figaro and Susanna to bring him back. Their relationship is the most complex of the opera, and Godinez and Blaustein make it fascinating to watch."
DC Theater Arts
Taking Up Serpents
QUEER KID | CHICAGO OPERA THEATER
"Morgan Middleton, Justin Berkowitz, and Rachel Blaustein showed versatility as a kind of intermittent Greek chorus, the latter two in double roles."
Chicago Classical Review
"Morgan Middleton, Justin Berkowitz, and Rachel Blaustein served as the chorus and mostly appeared in triple screens which was beautifully done. The three take on different small roles and in repeated viewings (this opera is one which I found impossible to view just once) I saw tremendous detail in this trio’s approach to different scenes."
Hyde Park Herald
Rusalka (reduced orchestration)
""Rachel Blaustein, in the role of Rusalka, is a standout. Her lyric soprano voice, with its lush phrasing and shimmering high notes, beautifully conveyed the character’s yearning and heartbreak. Her performance of “Song to the Moon” was a highlight."
Stage and Cinema
PACIFIC OPERA PROJECT
