Aksinya, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk, Boston Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

“Several of the potent supporting singers made particularly strong impressions. As the terrified Aksinya, Michelle Trainor’s high notes seared our ears…” – The Observer

Mrs. Peachum, The Beggar’s Opera, Emmanuel Music

“The impressive bass-baritone David Cushing and soprano Michelle Trainor brilliantly depicted Mr. and Mrs. Peachum” – The Boston Musical Intelligencer

Ofglen, The Handmaid’s Tale, Boston Lyric Opera

“and soprano Michelle Trainor, as the conspiratorial Ofglen, were fine counterparts to Cano’s Offred.” – Opera News

“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

“The cast was superb from top to bottom…Ofglen (Michelle Trainor), all first rate.” – Boston Musical Intelligencer

 “Other standouts in a uniformly strong cast, the confident counter-zealotry of Michelle Trainor’s rebel Ofglen”. – Bachtrack

“Amid the BLO’s large cast, smaller parts that shine include Michelle Trainor as Ofglen.” – The Arts Fuse

“Now, with an ambitious, immersive staging by Anne Bogart, and a fantastic cast and chorus, Boston Lyric Opera’s production of composer Poul Ruders and librettist Paul Bentley’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” has landed close to home…Soprano Michelle Trainor is no-nonsense as the covertly rebellious Ofglen.” –  The Boston Globe

Oneeta, Princess, Batcheat, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Boston Modern Orchestra Project

“First, the entire cast was incredibly outstanding, such that I can’t really seem to find a weak spot in the cast. Everyone sang through Wuorinen’s score so effortlessly that it was truly a sound to behold, and practically everyone found a way to bring oodles of character to their performances. Other standouts in the cast include Boston opera mainstay Michelle Trainor intentionally singing “badly” as the Princess Batcheat. – Schmopera

Berta, The Barber of Seville, Michigan Opera Theatre

“Michelle Trainor also merits a call-out as Berta, the Governess in Bartolo’s house, who is salty and all-knowing about the absurdity of Bartolo’s plans to marry his ward. She nails her aria about people in love acting crazy.” – Encore Michigan

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

“Michelle Trainor (Berta)’s comedic timing was as precise and potent as her extraordinary voice.” – The New England Theatre Geek

“It should really say something that Michelle Trainor, a favorite of the Boston opera scene and one of the highlights of BLO’s Threepenny Opera from last season, almost had to fight for attention amongst this ensemble of neuroses: all of these neuroses combined led to an innumerable number of laughs.  And of course, that is before the audience even considers the fantastic singing they all provided.” – Schmopera

“Michelle Trainor, as Berta, was a delight to watch and was placed vocally in more of her sweet spot than in previous roles with the company.  Able to show off more of her impressively large high notes at the end of her aria…she also stole at least one scene with an extended gag involving snuff and the cleanup from a series of sneezes.” – The Theatre Times

“Michelle Trainor’s Berta was a comedic and vocal treat.” – The Boston Globe

“Berta, Bartolo’s housekeeper, brings even more comic relief to the comedy – here played with brilliant flair and vocal zeal by soprano Michelle Trainor.” – The Boston Musical Intelligencer

“David Crawford as creepy Don Basilio and Michelle Trainor as the obstreperous Berta are excellent in their supporting roles.” – Arts Fuse

Bénoni, La Reine de Saba

“Singing the role of Adoniram’s apprentice, Benoni, Michelle Trainor swooned through her Act I aria with melodious rapture.” – The Boston Globe

“…others include the impressive aria sung by Trainor about Balkis’ beauty.” – South Shore Critic

“Soprano Michelle Trainor superbly conveyed the trouser role of Benoni.” – The Boston Musical Intelligencer

“Michelle Trainor in the pants role of Benoni, Adoniram’s young apprentice, sang “Comme le naissant aurore” describing the Queen’s beauty with youthful enthusiasm.” – Bachtrack

“As Adoniram’s apprentice Bénoni, Michelle Trainor sang with a dark but nimble soprano in her only featured aria, “Comme la naissante aurore,” which told of Balkis’ beauty. – Boston Classical Review

Soloist, Beethoven Ninth Symphony

Michelle Trainor as soprano, Alan Schneider as tenor, Janna Baty as mezzo and Sam Handley as bass who delivered a rousing performance of “Ode to Joy” in Beethoven’s Ninth.

All four soloists brought to the stage a repertoire of experience and refinery and delivered a powerful performance that rose in volume and intensity as the piece went on. The audience reacted with fervent awe and attention to their performance and, by the night’s end, they joined together in a standing ovation as Patel, the chorus and Symphony NH took their final bow. –  The Telegraph

​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.)” – Berkshire Fine Arts

“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. – Edge Media Network

“Michelle Trainor playing Polly Peachum’s mother with 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. – Schmopera

“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.” – Broadway World, 3/20/18   

Jocasta, Oedipus Rex, Stravinsky

“No matter the tessituras, no matter the pianissimos or fortissimos, Jon Jurgens’ tenor vividly emotionalized the starring role in Igor Stravinsky’s neo-classic “still life,” Oedipus Rex. Sharing those qualities in the role of mother, Michelle Trainor engendered a Jocasta that will also not soon be forgotten. Tenderness dissolving into aches with one admission of sin after another all spelled out in touching tones of the remarkable tenor Jurgens. Defending her son, then her husband, Trainor’s Jocasta soared into an unmistakable orbit of true maternal instincts. 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, 2/24/18

“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, 03/07/18

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.” – The Boston Globe, 11/10/17

“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.” – Boston Classical Review, 11/9/17

“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.” – The Boston Musical Intelligencer, 11/11/17

“Early on, the somewhat bumbling duo of Burke and Hare hatch the idea of the crime scheme with their partners, played by soprano Michelle Trainor (Helen McDougal) and mezzo-soprano Heather Gallagher (Mrs. Hare). Both Trainor and Gallagher are as convincing in operatic range as they are in their character’s glee. Both delivering a ‘devil may care’ fun in their rough body language with their partners, showing their greed as they envision what to buy with their expected new riches.” – ZEALNYC, 11/10/17

Marcellina, Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart

“Marcellina and Basilio were given finely etched characterization by Michelle Trainor and Matthew DiBattista, respectively, though they were both shorn of their arias.” – Opera News, 4/28/17

“As Marcellina soprano Michelle Trainor also delivered a brilliant performance.  An ebullient comedian, she stole every scene she was in with her pure joie de vivre.  I will always remember her in her iridescent (green and mauve) gown doing an exuberant twist in the wedding party scene.  Trainor has a big voice, which she has learned to modulate for the space and her company.  An alumna of the BLO’s emerging artist program, I suspect she will have a big career.” – Berkshire Fine Arts, 5/6/17

“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, 5/4/17

“Michelle Trainor made a delightful Marcellina, equally fine trading barbs with Susanna and embracing her long-lost son, Figaro.” – Artsfuse, 5/7/17

“…overshadowed by the comic genius and energy of Michelle Trainor’s stentorian Marcellina…you bring out a cast of singers so marvelous that one would be lucky to hear them do “Marriage of Figaro” anywhere they offered it.” – The Boston Globe, 5/2/17

“Michelle Trainor sounded great…seemed to have real fun in the role of Marcellina.” – Edge Media Network, 5/1/17

Ghita, Der Zwerg, Zemlinksy

“Michelle Trainor’s warm steady tone cast a maternal glow on Ghita.” – Bachtrack, 4/16/17

“Excellent cast of singers…Michelle Trainor was a warmly empathetic Ghita.” – The Boston Musical Intelligencer, 4/17/17

Brangain, The Love Potion, Martin

“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, 11/19/14

“Michelle Trainor displayed a powerful, penetrating soprano as Brangain.” – The Wall Street Journal, Through 11/29/14

“Michelle Trainor’s Brangain was a force of nature.  Martin gives her much music of despair, and Trainor made the most of her brief moments of high drama.” – The Boston Musical Intelligencer, 11/20/2014

“tremendously moving…the outstanding Trainor” – The South Shore Critic, 11/20/14

“Michelle Trainor distinguished herself as a compellingly torn Brangain” – The Hub Review, 11/22/14

“All of the Boston Lyric singers were excellent…superb soprano Michelle Trainor” – Classical Voice America, 11/22/14

“Strong, too, was Michelle Trainor, as the fiery, remorseful Brangain.” – Arts Fuse, 11/21/14