Rachel Blaustein, Hodel

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, up-and-coming artist, with a moving sensibility for drama and text.

Rachel’ s exciting 20 25 – 26 season kicked off with her role and company debut as the title character in Viardot’s Cendrillon with Opera Montana. She return ed to Chicago Opera Theater to cover Mistress Ford in Salieri’s Falstaff, and revive d the role of Hodel in Crystal Manich’s production of Fiddler on the Roof with Austin Opera. She also ma de her highly anticipated return to Spoleto Festival USA as Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief and as the soprano soloist in Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915.

In the previous season, Rachel made a thrilling jump-in debut with Spoleto Festival USA as Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw. She made her role and house debut with Cincinnati Opera as Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof and joined the prestigious Ravinia Festival Steans Institute as a 2025 Vocal Fellow. She also returned to Carnegie Hall for the premiere of Erica Glenn’s Worldwide Requiem. In the 20 23 – 24 season, Rachel earned praise for her role debut as Gilda in Rigoletto with OperaDelaware and Opera Baltimore. She sang the title role of Rusalka with Pacific Opera Project and joined t he Metropolitan Opera for the workshop of Mason Bates’ s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay in the role of Sarah Kavalier. She made her Carnegie Hall debut as the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana, and appeared in the Ravinia Festival’s Die Zauberflöte as the Second Spirit under the baton of Marin Alsop.

Additional recent engagements include her debut s with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, as Ruth in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s Awakenings, and with Santa Fe Opera, as Autonoe in John Corigliano’s The Lord of Cries. She reprised the latter role in a Pentatone recording with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project that receive d a 2024 Grammy n omination for Best Opera Recording. She also originated the role of Micòl Finzi-Contini in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Garden of the Finzi- Continis with New York City Opera, for which she received rave reviews.

Rachel is the recipient of both the 2025 Alumni Excellence Award from Hofstra University and the Farwell Trust Award from the Musicians Club of Women. S he was a semifinalist in the Paris Opera Competition in 2023, took second place in the 2021 Partners for the Arts Competition, and has received numerous awards from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

A native of Olney, Maryland, Rachel is a dual German-American citizen. She holds a b achelor ’ s degree in v oice with a minor in drama from Hofstra University, and a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University.