A versatile vocalist, Alina Roitstein is known for her “beautiful voice and equally beautiful presence” (El Nuevo Herald). Her career spanning jazz and Latin music, chamber music and contemporary works, opera and art song, and choral music has taken her to venues all over the world, including Japan’s Symphony Hall in Osaka, South Korea’s Seoul Arts Centre Concert Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Scotland’s Royal Conservatoire, Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concert Series, Chicago’s Poetry Foundation, and Los Angeles’ REDCAT. One of Alina’s passions is performing new works, and she has premiered pieces by Thomas Kotcheff, Gregory Uhlmann, Allen Menton, David Rentz, Juhi Bansai, Trevor Anderies, David Roitstein, and others. She also premiered the role of Emily in The Discord Altar, the first of OperaWorks’ Arts for Social Awareness Project, a groundbreaking musically improvised opera created to bring awareness to current social issues.
Alina is a singer and composer for River Song Quintet, a chamber jazz ensemble whose performances have been described as “sparse and beautiful… mesmerizing and strewn with hauntingly gorgeous vocals.” (Jhanne Jasmine, Camellia Lounge) and “… a joyous blending of memorable compositions, artful orchestration, subtle improvisation, and fresh creative energy” (Art Lande, Grammy-nominated pianist). River Song Quintet’s album Monarchs, was released in 2014. Roitstein is also the singer for the Trevor Anderies Quintet, an ensemble led by drummer/composer Trevor Anderies, exploring the lines between composition and improvisation, jazz, folk, and West African music. Their recent album released on Orenda Records is entitled Promise of a Tree. Alina will also be featured on Toomai String Quintet’s upcoming album, Cuerdas Cubanas, an album of Cuban music arranged for string quintet, to be released in June, 2018.
Roitstein is also a committed educator and is on the voice faculty at Pasadena City College. She maintains an active private studio and has performed workshops and master classes at colleges all over the United States, including California Institute of the Arts, Sonoma State University, University of Oregon, Denison University, University of Nevada, Reno, Colorado Mesa University, and Cal State University, Northridge.
