Patricia Racette

Who is Patricia Racette?

Patricia Lynn Racette 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 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.

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; Liu in Turandot; Desdemona in Otello; and Káťa in Káťa Kabanová. She performed in several world premieres, including the title role in Tobias Picker's Emmeline, and as Leslie Crosby in Paul Moravec's The Letter at the Santa Fe Opera.