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Biography
Soprano
Patricia Racette is known as one of the great singing actresses of
our time.
She
continues to appear regularly in the most acclaimed opera houses of
the world, including
The
Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago,
Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera,
and the Santa Fe Opera. Known as a great interpreter of Janacek and
Puccini, she has gained particular notoriety for her portrayals of
the title roles of Madame
Butterfly, Tosca, Jenufa,
Kátya
Kabanová. and all
three leading soprano roles in Il Trittico. Her varied
repertory also encompasses the leading roles of
Mimi
and Musetta in La Bohème, Nedda
in Pagliacci, , Elisabetta in
Don Carlos, Leonora in Il
Trovatore, Alice in Falstaff, Marguerite in Faust,
Mathilde in Guillaume Tell, Madame
Lidoine in Dialogues des Carmélites,
Margherita in Boito’s Mefistofele,
Ellen Orford in Peter
Grimes, Governess in The
Turn of the Screw, and Tatyana in Eugene
Onegin as well as the
title roles of La Traviata,
Susannah, Luisa
Miller, and
Iphigénie en Tauride.
Ms.
Racette has also appeared at the
Royal Opera House, the English National Opera, Opéra National de
Paris, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro
Comunale di Bologna, Teatro
Comunale di Firenze,
Opera di Genova, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna Staatsoper, and the
Saito Kinen Festival.
Her
most recent performances of Madama
Butterfly and Peter Grimes
at the Metropolitan Opera were seen in HD in movie theaters
across the world as part of The
Met: Live in HD, with Madama
Butterfly being one of the most successful broadcasts in the
history of the series. Both were subsequently released on DVD.
A
champion of new works by today’s leading composers, Ms. Racette
most recently created the
role of Leslie Crosbie in the world premiere of Paul
Moravec’s The Letter at
the Santa Fe Opera.
Other world premieres have included Roberta
Alden in Tobias Picker’s An
American Tragedy at the Metropolitan Opera, the title role in
Tobias Picker’s Emmeline at
the Santa Fe Opera (subsequently broadcast on PBS’ Great
Performances and available on Albany Records), and Love Simpson
in Carlisle Floyd’s Cold
Sassy Tree at the Houston Grand Opera (available on Albany
Records).
On
the concert platform, Ms Racette has appeared with many of the
world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Houston Symphony,
the San Francisco Symphony, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Dusseldorfer
Philharmoniker, and the
Cologne Philharmonic. She recorded Zemlinsky’s Der
Traumgorge with James Conlon and the Cologne Philharmonic.
This
season, Ms. Racette opened the Washington National Opera’s season
as Tosca, and returned to
the Metropolitan Opera for Tosca
and Madama Butterfly. Upcoming
engagements include her Seattle Opera debut in Madama
Butterfly, Il
Tabarro and Suor Angelica for her debut at the Theater an der Wien, Manon
Lescaut at the Washington National Opera, Tosca
at the San Francisco Opera, and Il
Trovatore and Dialogues
des Carmélites at the Metropolitan Opera. She will also appear
in concert with Patti Lupone at the Ravinia Festival and make her
debut at the New York Philharmonic in performances of
Dallapiccola’s Il
Priogioniero.
A
native of New Hampshire, Ms. Racette earned her Bachelor of Music
degree from North Texas State University before joining The Merola
Opera Program and Adler Fellowship at San Francisco Opera. Among her
honors are the Richard Tucker Award, the Marian Anderson Award, and
a 2010 Opera News Award.
Photo
credit:
Devon
Cass
May
2012
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