Patricia Racette

Patricia Racette

Patricia Lynn Racette (born 1965) is an American operatic 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 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. She also received the award for Best Opera Recording for her performance in the Los Angeles Opera's production of The Ghosts of Versailles at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. Racette has particularly excelled in Puccini and Verdi operas. 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; Liù in Turandot; Desdemona in Otello; and Káťa in Káťa Kabanová. She has performed in several world premieres, including the title role in Tobias Picker's Emmeline (1996), and as Leslie Crosby in Paul Moravec's The Letter (2009) at the Santa Fe Opera. She 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.