Soprano Michelle Trainor – Boston Based Opera Singer

Miss Jessel, The Turn of the Screw, Enigma Chamber Opera

“For this debut production, Cairns gathered an adult cast that would appear in any who’s who of opera in Boston…Michelle Trainor, mezzo-Friday of pretty much every opera company in town, turned in yet another bravo-worthy performance as a rueful, terrifying Jessel.”

The Boston Globe

Jocasta, Oedipus Rex, Stravinsky

“As Jocasta, soprano Michelle Trainor, a local singer affiliated with the BLO, turned in the best performance I’ve yet heard from her. Trainor has a big voice of a type not heard much among local singers who cultivate the more delicate styles of the 17th century. One can imagine her burning up the stage in a Verdian or even Wagnerian work. Who will give her that chance? Here she made a sympathetic Jocasta, discovering slowly that her new husband not only killed her husband, the King, but is also her son by the King. At her entry the chorus has one of its spectacular outbursts, “Glory to Queen Jocasta!” And Trainor totally nailed her own balancing outburst, “Laius died at the crossroads,” when she begins to figure out what happened. The duet between Trainor and Jurgens, “I am afraid, Jocasta, I am afraid,” and her ineffective consoling words, “The oracles lie; the oracles always lie,” was an emotional highlight of the work.”

The Berkshire Fine Arts

Ofglen, The Handmaid's Tale, Boston Lyric Opera

“Among her victims are the resistance member Ofglen, given understanding and sense by Michelle Trainor. They are not alone in their excellence in a 16-person cast…”

The New York Times

Berta, The Barber of Seville, Boston Lyric Opera

“Michelle Trainor provided a ringing mezzo [soprano] and fine comic chops, particularly in Berta’s aria, “Il vecchiotto cerca moglie.”

Opera News

Brangain, The Love Potion, Boston Lyric Opera

"Soprano Michelle Trainor gave one of the most thorough and satisfying performances of the evening as Isolt’s loyal servant Brangain. Trainor, an alumna of the company’s Emerging Artist program, has clearly emerged. Musically, her voice is richer and more expressive than ever, and she in particular embodied the simultaneous passion and restraint of Martin’s musical approach to the legend."

Opera News

Brangain, The Love Potion, Boston Lyric Opera

“Michelle Trainor displayed a powerful, penetrating soprano as Brangain.”

The Wall Street Journal

Marcellina, Le Nozze di Figaro, Boston Lyric Opera

“Michelle Trainor as Marcellina has a gift for comic timing and her facial expressions provide another level of commentary at every turn.”

The Theatre Times

Jocasta, Oedipus Rex, Stravinsky

"Singing in her deep soprano register terrified, while elsewhere her confutations of the oracle’s capability of telling the truth intensified in higher voice; it seemed no one could have been better cast."

The Boston Musical Intelligencer

Berta, The Barber of Seville, Boston Lyric Opera

“Michelle Trainor’s Berta was a comedic and vocal treat.”

The Boston Globe

Berta, The Barber of Seville, Boston Lyric Opera

“Michelle Trainor (Berta)’s comedic timing was as precise and potent as her extraordinary voice.”

The New England Theatre Geek

Mrs. Peachum, The Threepenny Opera, Weill

Michelle Trainor playing Polly Peachum's mother was a Brooklynite-esque bravado that delivered both a ton of laughs and one of the more memorable pre-show announcements about cell phones I have seen in the theater

Arturo Fernandez, Schmopera

Mrs. Peachum, The Threepenny Opera, Weill

Although rarely performed by a professional opera company, Boston Lyric Opera and Director James Darrah have brought together an ensemble of artists whose acting skills pair nicely with their stellar vocal talents to distinctively portray the cast of memorable characters. Across the board, the characters are brought to life and Weill's score is beautifully conveyed by these major players...Michelle Trainor (Mrs. Peachum), oozing malevolence and the perfect helpmate to her husband

Nancy Grossman, Broadway World

Mrs. Peachum, The Threepenny Opera, Weill

The company assembled an excellent cast of young, singing actors who brought off to perfection the music, the dialogue and the comedy...Equally amusing was Michelle Trainor's outrageous performance as Polly's raucous mother.

Ed Tapper, Edge Media Network

Mrs. Peachum, The Threepenny Opera, Weill

Michelle Trainor as Mrs. Peachum nearly stole the show every time she appeared on stage, which was not often enough. Loud, vulgar, with an outsized presence, she had the pizzazz the show desperately needed. (BTW, Trainor, a veteran of the BLO’s “emerging artist” program, is turning out to be the best dramatic soprano in town – just a couple of weeks ago she delivered a very fine Jocasta in Stravinsky’s “Oedipus Rex” for Emmanuel Music, an entirely different sort of role.)

David Bonetti, Berkshire Fine Arts

Helen McDougal, Burke and Hare, Grant

The evening’s most truly disturbing moment came when Burke and Hare’s ladies, both sung and acted to despicable, harpyish perfection by Michelle Trainor and Heather Gallagher, stripped off a trembling Slattery’s hat and jacket before his character’s (unstaged) murder

Zoë Madonna, Boston Globe

Helen McDougal, Burke and Hare, Grant

As viciously funny partners in crime, Margaret Hare (soprano Heather Gallagher) and Helen McDougal (soprano Michelle Trainor) exist in the musical realm of the lower-class musical hall and pantomime: their hysterical duets build tension and propel all of the other characters toward their tragic destinies.

Laura Stanfield Prichard, Boston Musical Intelligencer

Helen McDougal, Burke and Hare, Grant

Filling out the cast were Michelle Trainor and Heather Gallagher, who sang rich and glowing phrases as Burke and Hare’s companions, Helen McDougal and Margaret Hare respectively.