Patricia Racette
Encyclopedia
Patricia Lynn Racette is an American opera
tic soprano
. A winner of the Richard Tucker Award in 1998, she has been a regular presence at major opera houses internationally. Racette has enjoyed long-term partnerships with the San Francisco Opera
, where she has been a regular performer since 1989, and with the Metropolitan Opera
, where she has performed annually since 1995. Also active on the concert stage, Racette has appeared with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra
, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
, the San Francisco Symphony
, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra
.
Possessing a strong, shining lyric soprano
with a considerable amount of dramatic intensity, Racette has particularly excelled in the operas of Giacomo Puccini
and Giuseppe Verdi
. Among her most well-known roles are Violetta in La traviata
; Blanche de la Force and Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites
; both Mimì and Musetta in La bohème
, the title heroine in Jenůfa
; Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly
; Alice Ford in Falstaff
; Liu in Turandot
; Desdemona in Otello
; and Káťa in Káťa Kabanová
. She has also notably performed in several world premieres, including the title role in Tobias Picker
's Emmeline
(1996) and the role of Leslie Crosby in Paul Moravec
's The Letter
(2009) at the Santa Fe Opera
. She has also appeared in the premiere of Picker's An American Tragedy
(2005) at the Met, and portrayed Love Simpson in the premiere of Carlisle Floyd
's Cold Sassy Tree
(2000) at the Houston Grand Opera
.
Racette has been pictured on the cover of Opera News
in June 2002 and December 2005. She was also on the cover of the February 2006 edition of the Lesbian News and was featured in the September 2002 edition of The Advocate
. She has been known to silence critics with her pointed responses. Although a perfectionist known for exacting standards, she dislikes analysis of opera in strictly technical terms, insisting on asking "But how does it make you feel?"
in 1965. She has an older sister, Christine, and a younger brother, Peter. Her father, Paul, now retired, was a union representative and distributor of Pepsi
products in southern New Hampshire
. Her mother, now deceased, was a part-time bank employee and homemaker. At the age of seven she relocated with her family to Bedford, New Hampshire
where she spent the rest of her youth. Both her parents were originally from Bedford. She started playing guitar at the age of 8; self-taught
, she began singing along with the guitar which became the source of her interest in vocal music. She attended Manchester High School West
, where she was very active in the school music program. Under the direction of Richard Maynard, she participated in regional chorale competitive festivals.
Upon graduation from high school in 1983, Racette matriculated at the University of North Texas
with the intent of studying vocal jazz
. To her dismay, she was told her voice was more amenable to opera performance than jazz, which initially upset her. However, she eventually found that she really enjoyed opera and enthusiastically pursued a vocal studies major. In her senior year she won first prize in the auditions for the Merola Opera Program
, the training arm of the San Francisco Opera. Her first opera performance was at a community college in Fort Worth, Texas
as the title role in Carlisle Floyd
's Susannah
. After graduating from college, Racette made her professional opera debut in 1988 in Giacomo Puccini
's Madama Butterfly
with the San Francisco Western Opera Theater and traveled with the company for performances in New York City. Critic Bernard Holland
said of her performance "Patricia Racette was an especially compelling actress as Cio-Cio San, and it was acting achieved through music – just as opera performance should be. Yet Miss Racette has a soprano voice that, while musically and technically reliable, is never terribly luxurious in sound."
She made her debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1989 as the voice of the priestess in Aida
. She sang several more roles with the company while in the Merola program, including Alice Ford in Falstaff
, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus
, Sister Osmina in Suor Angelica
, and Freia and Helmwige in The Ring Cycle
. In 1991 she was made an Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera which led to several more performances at the SFO over the next two years, including Micaëla in Carmen
, Dunyasha in War and Peace
, the First Lady in The Magic Flute
, and Mimì in La bohème
.
, making her debut with the company as Musetta in La bohème. She sang one more role with the company in the spring of 1993, Micaela in Carmen. In the summer of 1993 she made her debut with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni
. She also continued her relationship with the San Francisco Opera, portraying Margherita in Mefistofele
in 1994 and made her first international appearances that year at the Vienna State Opera
and the Welsh National Opera
. Although she received good reviews for these performances, it was not until she won the Marian Anderson Award in 1994, an award which also helped further the careers of Sylvia McNair
(1990), Denyce Graves
(1991), and Nathan Gunn
(1996), that she drew wider attention in the opera world.
In 1994 Racette was offered a contract by the Metropolitan Opera
to perform the role of Musetta in La bohème for performance in the spring of 1995. She made her debut at the house on March 4, 1995 with Mary Mills
as Mimì, Luis Lima
as Rodolfo, Roberto Frontali as Marcello, and John Fiore conducting. Her performance was so well received she was immediately engaged to sing the role of Mimì in subsequent seasons, and has remained an annual performer at the Met since her debut. Her popularlity at the house grew rapidly and she began to add more roles to her Met repertoire in the late 1990s, including Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes
, Antonia/Stella in Les contes d'Hoffmann, and Violetta in La traviata
. She took over the latter part in 1998 after the firing of Angela Gheorghiu
and the cancellation of Renée Fleming
. In the 2000s she has added the roles Alice Ford in Falstaff, Blanche de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites
, Elizabeth of Valois in Don Carlo
, and Nedda in Pagliacci
to her Met repertoire. In 2005 she notably portrayed Roberta Alden in the world premiere of Tobias Picker
's An American Tragedy
. She most recently sang the role of Cio-Cio San at the house in 2009.
In 1996 Racette had a major critical success portraying the title role in the world premiere of Tobias Picker
's Emmeline
for her debut at the Santa Fe Opera
. She has since returned to that house frequently, portraying Violetta (1997), Blanche de la Force (1999), Tatyana in Eugene Onegin
(2002), the title role in Káťa Kabanová
(2003), Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra
(2004), and Liù in Turandot
(2005). She most recently returned to the house to portray the role of Leslie Crosby in the premiere of Paul Moravec
's The Letter
in 2009.
In 1998 Racette was the recipient of the coveted Richard Tucker Award which is given annually by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation
to an American-born opera singer on the threshold of a major national and international career. Some prior recipients of this award have been David Daniels (1997), Dwayne Croft
(1996), Ruth Ann Swenson
(1993), Deborah Voigt
(1992), and Renée Fleming
(1990).
Racette continued to maintain an active relationship with the San Francisco Opera during the late 1990s up to the present day. Among the many appearances she has made with the company are, Mathilde in William Tell
(1997), the title role in Luisa Miller
(2000), Violetta (2001), the title role in Leoš Janáček
's Jenůfa
(2001), Desdemona in Otello
(2002), Liù (2002), and several performance of Cio-Cio San from 2005 through 2008 among other roles.
In 2000 Racette made her debut at La Scala
as Ellen Orford and her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
as Jenůfa. She has since returned to Chicago numerous time to portray such roles as Mimì, Marguerite in Charles Gounod
's Faust
, Micaëla, Liù, and Madame Lidoine. In 2005 she made her first appearance at the Los Angeles Opera
as Cio-Cio San. Other notable opera companies with which Racette has appeared include the Washington National Opera
, the San Diego Opera
, the Dallas Opera
, the Opéra National de Paris
, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna
, the Teatro Comunale Florence
, the Grand Théâtre de Genève
, the Bavarian State Opera
, the Royal Opera, London
, and Opera Australia
. She has also performed in operas at the Saito Kinen Festival
and the Tanglewood Music Festival
.
lesbian
. She lives with her partner
, fellow opera singer Beth Clayton
, whom she met in 1997, shortly before they performed together in a Santa Fe Opera production of La traviata. In June 2002, when she was featured as the cover story for the Opera News magazine, Racette requested that the magazine include her public coming-out statement. She stated that her sexuality and her long-term relationship with Clayton were a very important part of who she is as an artist. Racette and Clayton were married
in the summer of 2005. The subject of Racette's homosexuality has been covered in numerous other magazine interviews and articles since.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
. A winner of the Richard Tucker Award in 1998, she has been a regular presence at major opera houses internationally. Racette has enjoyed long-term partnerships with the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
, where she has been a regular performer since 1989, and with the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, where she has performed annually since 1995. Also active on the concert stage, Racette has appeared with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
, the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
.
Possessing a strong, shining lyric soprano
Lyric soprano
A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre which can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and other sympathetic characters in opera. Lyric sopranos have...
with a considerable amount of dramatic intensity, Racette has particularly excelled in the operas of Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
and Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
. Among her most well-known roles are Violetta in La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
; Blanche de la Force and Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites , is an opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. In 1953, M. Valcarenghi approached Poulenc to commission a ballet for La Scala in Milan; when Poulenc found the proposed subject uninspiring, Valcarenghi suggested instead a screenplay by Georges Bernanos, based on the...
; both Mimì and Musetta in La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, the title heroine in Jenůfa
Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
; Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
; Alice Ford in Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
; Liu in Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
; Desdemona in Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
; and Káťa in Káťa Kabanová
Káta Kabanová
Káťa Kabanová is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by Vincenc Červinka, based on The Storm, a play by Alexander Ostrovsky. The opera was also largely inspired by Janáček's love for Kamila Stösslová...
. She has also notably performed in several world premieres, including the title role in Tobias Picker
Tobias Picker
Tobias Picker is an American composer. Picker began composing at the age of eight and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Princeton University, where his principal teachers were Charles Wuorinen, Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt...
's Emmeline
Emmeline (opera)
Emmeline is an opera in two acts composed by Tobias Picker with a libretto by JD McClatchy. Picker's first opera, it was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera company and premiered in 1996...
(1996) and the role of Leslie Crosby in Paul Moravec
Paul Moravec
Paul Moravec is an American composer and a University Professor at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York...
's The Letter
The Letter (opera)
The Letter is an opera by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Terry Teachout. It was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera and was premiered there on July 25, 2009....
(2009) at the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
. She has also appeared in the premiere of Picker's An American Tragedy
An American Tragedy
-Plot summary:The ambitious but immature Clyde Griffiths, raised by poor and devoutly religious parents who force him to participate in their street missionary work, is anxious to achieve better things. His troubles begin when he takes a job as a bellboy at a local hotel. The boys he meets are...
(2005) at the Met, and portrayed Love Simpson in the premiere of Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd is an American opera composer. The son of a Methodist minister, he based many of his works on themes from the South...
's Cold Sassy Tree
Cold Sassy Tree (opera)
Cold Sassy Tree is an opera composed by Carlisle Floyd, based on the 1984 novel by Olive Ann Burns.Cold Sassy Tree was Floyd’s tenth opera and his first comic opera. It had its world premiere on April 14, 2000, at the Houston Grand Opera, with a production staged by Australian filmmaker Bruce...
(2000) at the Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
.
Racette has been pictured on the cover of Opera News
Opera News
Opera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
in June 2002 and December 2005. She was also on the cover of the February 2006 edition of the Lesbian News and was featured in the September 2002 edition of The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
. She has been known to silence critics with her pointed responses. Although a perfectionist known for exacting standards, she dislikes analysis of opera in strictly technical terms, insisting on asking "But how does it make you feel?"
Early life and education
Racette was born in Manchester, New HampshireManchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...
in 1965. She has an older sister, Christine, and a younger brother, Peter. Her father, Paul, now retired, was a union representative and distributor of Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
products in southern New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. Her mother, now deceased, was a part-time bank employee and homemaker. At the age of seven she relocated with her family to Bedford, New Hampshire
Bedford, New Hampshire
-Demographics:As of the Census of 2000, there were 18,274 people, 6,251 households, and 5,125 families residing in the town. The population density was 556.6 people per square mile . There were 6,401 housing units at an average density of 195.0 per square mile...
where she spent the rest of her youth. Both her parents were originally from Bedford. She started playing guitar at the age of 8; self-taught
Autodidacticism
Autodidacticism is self-education or self-directed learning. In a sense, autodidacticism is "learning on your own" or "by yourself", and an autodidact is a person who teaches him or herself something. The term has its roots in the Ancient Greek words αὐτός and διδακτικός...
, she began singing along with the guitar which became the source of her interest in vocal music. She attended Manchester High School West
Manchester High School West
Manchester High School West, known as West High or West, is a public high school located in Manchester, New Hampshire. According to the Blue Book: Manchester High School West Hand Book , the school was officially opened in September 1923 as a grade school and high school, hosting the seventh and...
, where she was very active in the school music program. Under the direction of Richard Maynard, she participated in regional chorale competitive festivals.
Upon graduation from high school in 1983, Racette matriculated at the University of North Texas
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...
with the intent of studying vocal jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. To her dismay, she was told her voice was more amenable to opera performance than jazz, which initially upset her. However, she eventually found that she really enjoyed opera and enthusiastically pursued a vocal studies major. In her senior year she won first prize in the auditions for the Merola Opera Program
Merola opera program
Merola Opera Program is a San Francisco training program for opera singers, coaches, and stage directors.- Merola Opera Program :Merola Opera Program is the San Francisco Opera's training and performance program for promising young artists...
, the training arm of the San Francisco Opera. Her first opera performance was at a community college in Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
as the title role in Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd is an American opera composer. The son of a Methodist minister, he based many of his works on themes from the South...
's Susannah
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...
. After graduating from college, Racette made her professional opera debut in 1988 in Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
with the San Francisco Western Opera Theater and traveled with the company for performances in New York City. Critic Bernard Holland
Bernard Holland
Bernard Holland is an internationally recognized American music critic. He served on the staff of The New York Times from 1981 until 2008 and held the post of chief music critic from 1995, contributing 4,575 articles to the newspaper....
said of her performance "Patricia Racette was an especially compelling actress as Cio-Cio San, and it was acting achieved through music – just as opera performance should be. Yet Miss Racette has a soprano voice that, while musically and technically reliable, is never terribly luxurious in sound."
She made her debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1989 as the voice of the priestess in Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
. She sang several more roles with the company while in the Merola program, including Alice Ford in Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
, Sister Osmina in Suor Angelica
Suor Angelica
Suor Angelica is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is the second opera of the trio of operas known as Il trittico...
, and Freia and Helmwige in The Ring Cycle
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
. In 1991 she was made an Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera which led to several more performances at the SFO over the next two years, including Micaëla in Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Dunyasha in War and Peace
War and Peace (Prokofiev)
War and Peace is an opera in two parts , sometimes arranged as five acts, by Sergei Prokofiev to a Russian libretto by the composer and Mira Mendelson, based on the novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy...
, the First Lady in The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, and Mimì in La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
.
Career
In 1992 Racette joined the roster of singers at the New York City OperaNew York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
, making her debut with the company as Musetta in La bohème. She sang one more role with the company in the spring of 1993, Micaela in Carmen. In the summer of 1993 she made her debut with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is a summer opera festival held in St. Louis, Missouri. Typically four operas, all sung in English, are presented each season, which runs from late May to late June. Performances are accompanied by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, which is divided into two...
as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
. She also continued her relationship with the San Francisco Opera, portraying Margherita in Mefistofele
Mefistofele
Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito.-Composition history:...
in 1994 and made her first international appearances that year at the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
and the Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
. Although she received good reviews for these performances, it was not until she won the Marian Anderson Award in 1994, an award which also helped further the careers of Sylvia McNair
Sylvia McNair
Sylvia McNair is an American opera singer and classical recitalist who has also achieved notable success in the Broadway and cabaret genres. McNair, a soprano, has made several critically acclaimed recordings and has won two Grammy Awards....
(1990), Denyce Graves
Denyce Graves
Denyce Graves is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer.-Early life:Graves was born on March 7, 1964, to Charles Graves and Dorothy Graves-Kenner. She is the middle of three children and was raised by her mother on Galveston Street, S.W., in the Bellevue section of Washington...
(1991), and Nathan Gunn
Nathan Gunn
Nathan Gunn is an operatic baritone from the United States.He has appeared in many of world's well-known opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera,...
(1996), that she drew wider attention in the opera world.
In 1994 Racette was offered a contract by the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
to perform the role of Musetta in La bohème for performance in the spring of 1995. She made her debut at the house on March 4, 1995 with Mary Mills
Mary Mills (soprano)
Mary Elizabeth Mills is an American opera singer. Praised for her rich and tender tone, Soprano Mary Mills has made a lasting impression with her soaring high notes, touching dramatic expression, and youthful sensuality.-Biography:...
as Mimì, Luis Lima
Luis Lima
Luis Lima is an Argentine operatic tenor, who studied in Buenos Aires under Carlos Guichandut and in Sicily under Gina Cigna...
as Rodolfo, Roberto Frontali as Marcello, and John Fiore conducting. Her performance was so well received she was immediately engaged to sing the role of Mimì in subsequent seasons, and has remained an annual performer at the Met since her debut. Her popularlity at the house grew rapidly and she began to add more roles to her Met repertoire in the late 1990s, including Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
, Antonia/Stella in Les contes d'Hoffmann, and Violetta in La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
. She took over the latter part in 1998 after the firing of Angela Gheorghiu
Angela Gheorghiu
Angela Gheorghiu is a Romanian soprano opera singer. Since her professional debut in 1990, she has sung as soprano leading roles at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden's Royal Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, Milan's La Scala, and many other opera houses in Europe and the United States...
and the cancellation of Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also...
. In the 2000s she has added the roles Alice Ford in Falstaff, Blanche de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites , is an opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. In 1953, M. Valcarenghi approached Poulenc to commission a ballet for La Scala in Milan; when Poulenc found the proposed subject uninspiring, Valcarenghi suggested instead a screenplay by Georges Bernanos, based on the...
, Elizabeth of Valois in Don Carlo
Don Carlos
Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...
, and Nedda in Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
to her Met repertoire. In 2005 she notably portrayed Roberta Alden in the world premiere of Tobias Picker
Tobias Picker
Tobias Picker is an American composer. Picker began composing at the age of eight and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Princeton University, where his principal teachers were Charles Wuorinen, Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt...
's An American Tragedy
An American Tragedy
-Plot summary:The ambitious but immature Clyde Griffiths, raised by poor and devoutly religious parents who force him to participate in their street missionary work, is anxious to achieve better things. His troubles begin when he takes a job as a bellboy at a local hotel. The boys he meets are...
. She most recently sang the role of Cio-Cio San at the house in 2009.
In 1996 Racette had a major critical success portraying the title role in the world premiere of Tobias Picker
Tobias Picker
Tobias Picker is an American composer. Picker began composing at the age of eight and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Princeton University, where his principal teachers were Charles Wuorinen, Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt...
's Emmeline
Emmeline (opera)
Emmeline is an opera in two acts composed by Tobias Picker with a libretto by JD McClatchy. Picker's first opera, it was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera company and premiered in 1996...
for her debut at the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
. She has since returned to that house frequently, portraying Violetta (1997), Blanche de la Force (1999), Tatyana in Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
(2002), the title role in Káťa Kabanová
Káta Kabanová
Káťa Kabanová is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by Vincenc Červinka, based on The Storm, a play by Alexander Ostrovsky. The opera was also largely inspired by Janáček's love for Kamila Stösslová...
(2003), Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra
Simon Boccanegra
Simon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Simón Bocanegra by Antonio García Gutiérrez....
(2004), and Liù in Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
(2005). She most recently returned to the house to portray the role of Leslie Crosby in the premiere of Paul Moravec
Paul Moravec
Paul Moravec is an American composer and a University Professor at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York...
's The Letter
The Letter (opera)
The Letter is an opera by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Terry Teachout. It was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera and was premiered there on July 25, 2009....
in 2009.
In 1998 Racette was the recipient of the coveted Richard Tucker Award which is given annually by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation
Richard Tucker Music Foundation
The Richard Tucker Music Foundation, founded in 1975, is a "non-profit cultural organization dedicated to perpetuating the artistic legacy of the great American tenor through the support and advancement of the careers of talented American opera singers by bringing opera into the community...
to an American-born opera singer on the threshold of a major national and international career. Some prior recipients of this award have been David Daniels (1997), Dwayne Croft
Dwayne Croft
Dwayne Croft is an American baritone who has sung in more than 300 performances in 25 roles at the Metropolitan Opera.He won the Richard Tucker Award in 1996....
(1996), Ruth Ann Swenson
Ruth Ann Swenson
Ruth Ann Swenson is an American soprano who is renowned for her brilliance in coloratura roles.Born in Bronxville, New York and raised in Commack, New York on Long Island, Swenson studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and briefly at Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut...
(1993), Deborah Voigt
Deborah Voigt
Deborah Voigt is an American operatic soprano. Voigt regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide.- Early life and education :...
(1992), and Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also...
(1990).
Racette continued to maintain an active relationship with the San Francisco Opera during the late 1990s up to the present day. Among the many appearances she has made with the company are, Mathilde in William Tell
William Tell (opera)
Guillaume Tell is an opera in four acts by Gioachino Rossini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis, based on Friedrich Schiller's play Wilhelm Tell. Based on the legend of William Tell, this opera was Rossini's last, even though the composer lived for nearly forty more years...
(1997), the title role in Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich von Schiller. The first performance was given at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on December 8, 1849...
(2000), Violetta (2001), the title role in Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
's Jenůfa
Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
(2001), Desdemona in Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
(2002), Liù (2002), and several performance of Cio-Cio San from 2005 through 2008 among other roles.
In 2000 Racette made her debut at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
as Ellen Orford and her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
as Jenůfa. She has since returned to Chicago numerous time to portray such roles as Mimì, Marguerite in Charles Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Micaëla, Liù, and Madame Lidoine. In 2005 she made her first appearance at the Los Angeles Opera
Los Angeles Opera
The Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.-Current leadership:...
as Cio-Cio San. Other notable opera companies with which Racette has appeared include the Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera
The Washington National Opera is an opera company in Washington, D.C., USA. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performances are now given in the Opera House of the John F...
, the San Diego Opera
San Diego Opera
The San Diego Opera Association is a professional opera company located in the city of San Diego, California and is a member of OPERA America. It was founded in 1950 to present productions by San Francisco Opera in the San Diego area...
, the Dallas Opera
Dallas Opera
The Dallas Opera is an opera company located in Dallas, Texas . The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic Opera by Laurence Kelly and Nicolà Rescigno, both of whom had been active with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first as administrator, the second as artistic director.-The company's...
, the Opéra National de Paris
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Teatro Comunale di Bologna
The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy, and is one of the most important opera venues in Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season....
, the Teatro Comunale Florence
Teatro Comunale Florence
The Teatro Comunale di Firenze is an opera house in Florence, Italy. It was originally built as the open-air amphitheatre, the Politeama Fiorentino Vittorio Emanuele which was inaugurated on 17 May 1862 with a production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and which seated 6,000 people...
, the Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland.As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officially opened in 1876, partly destroyed by fire in 1951 and reopened in...
, the Bavarian State Opera
Bavarian State Opera
The Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...
, the Royal Opera, London
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
, and Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
. She has also performed in operas at the Saito Kinen Festival
Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto
Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto is an annual classical music festival held in August and September in the Japanese Alps near Matsumoto. Founded in 1992 by music director Seiji Ozawa, the festival's resident orchestra is the renowned Saito Kinen Orchestra....
and the Tanglewood Music Festival
Tanglewood Music Festival
The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts....
.
Recordings
- ZemlinskyAlexander von ZemlinskyAlexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher.-Early life:...
's Der TraumgörgeDer TraumgörgeDer Traumgörge is an opera in two acts and an epilogue by Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky. The libretto was written by Leo Feld.-Performance history:...
with James ConlonJames ConlonJames Conlon is an American conductor and the current Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera.-Early years:Conlon grew up in a family of five children on Cherry Street in Douglaston, Queens, New York. His mother, Angeline L. Conlon, was a freelance writer. His father was an assistant to the New...
and the Gürzenich OrchestraGürzenich OrchestraThe Gürzenich-Orchester Köln is a symphony orchestra based in Cologne, Germany. On some recordings, the orchestra goes under the name "Gürzenich-Orchester Kölner Philharmoniker"... - Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree with Patrick Summers and the Houston Grand Opera
Personal life
Patricia Racette is an outComing out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
. She lives with her partner
Domestic partnership
A domestic partnership is a legal or personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by marriage nor a civil union...
, fellow opera singer Beth Clayton
Beth Clayton
Laura Beth Clayton is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer, and a native of Malvern, Arkansas.-Education and early career:Clayton's father was a Methodist minister. She sang in church and then in musical productions in church camp and in high school...
, whom she met in 1997, shortly before they performed together in a Santa Fe Opera production of La traviata. In June 2002, when she was featured as the cover story for the Opera News magazine, Racette requested that the magazine include her public coming-out statement. She stated that her sexuality and her long-term relationship with Clayton were a very important part of who she is as an artist. Racette and Clayton were married
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
in the summer of 2005. The subject of Racette's homosexuality has been covered in numerous other magazine interviews and articles since.
External links
- Official Website
- Patricia Racette interview by Bruce Duffie