Meet Rachel Blaustein, Soprano & New Year's Eve Soloist
Come and see Rachel and the rest of your MSO as we ring in the New Year!
The concert will be held on December 31st at 7 PM at Christ Church in Easton, MD.
Praised for her "crystalline soprano and admirable control and grace" (Opera Today), Rachel Blaustein, a 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition Grand Finalist, is poised as a bright and up-and-coming artist, with a moving sensibility to drama and text.
In the 2022/23 season, Rachel returns to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Pamina in The Magic Flute (filmed). She joins The New Choral Society as the soprano soloist in Mozart's Requiem, followed by her debut with Odyssey Opera as Autonoe (The Lord of Cries), a role which she premiered at Santa Fe Opera. She goes on to reprise the role in the work's commercial recording with Boston Modern Orchestra Project directly after. Following the success of her debut with New York City Opera as Micól Finzi-Contini in the world premiere of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis last season, she records the role with NYCO set for commercial release in 2023. She debuts with Annapolis Opera as Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro) and Maryland Lyric Opera as Nannetta (Falstaff), and can be heard in concert with Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Opera Edwardsville, and Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra.
The 2021/22 season was an exciting year with many debuts. Most recently, Rachel was named a Grand Finalist in the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She made her Opera Theatre Saint Louis debut as Ruth in Tobias Picker's world premiere, Awakenings and Pamina cover in The Magic Flute. Following, she joined The Metropolitan Opera for the workshop of Kevin Puts' upcoming premiere, The Hours in the role of Laura Brown.
Earlier in the 2021/22 season, Rachel made her New York City Opera debut in role of Micól Finzi-Contini in Ricky Ian Gordon's world premiere, The Garden of the Finzi-Contini's. She made her debut with Tulsa Opera as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi and joined Chicago Opera Theater as Frasquita in their ground-breaking and gender-bending production of Carmen featuring Jamie Barton as Carmen and Stephanie Blythe as Don José. Last summer, she made her Santa Fe Opera debut as an Apprentice Artist singing Autonoe in John Corigliano's world premiere, The Lord of Cries and Peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
In the 2020-21 season, she joined Chicago Opera Theater as Queer Kid in the Midwest Premiere digital production of Taking Up Serpents, and was the recipient of the Musicians Club of Women's Farwell Trust Award. She placed 2nd in the Partners for the Arts, Inc. 8th National Opera Competition, and won an Encouragement Award from the Northwest Regional Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
During the pandemic, Rachel won 3rd Place in the Tri-Cities Opera: TCO Next Virtual Vocal Competition. She was scheduled to join The Glimmerglass Festival singing Despina in Così?, and covering Sister Margaretta in The Sound of Music, and was set to make an exciting return to Opera Santa Barbara to sing Beth in Little Women. Still, all of these events were canceled due to COVID-19.
In previous seasons, she has sung with Kentucky Opera, Florentine Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera NEO, Opera Santa Barbara, Chautauqua Opera, and Fort Worth Opera. Recent engagements of note include performances as the soprano soloist in Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Bel Canto Chorus, and covers of Eurydice in Orphée et Eurydice (Des Moines Metro Opera), Adina in L'elisir d'amore (Opera Santa Barbara) and Kenzie in Earth to Kenzie (Lyric Opera of Chicago | Lyric Unlimited).
A native of Olney, Maryland, Rachel holds Bachelor's degree in Voice with a minor in drama from Hofstra University and a Master of Music from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.