Winner of the prestigious 1998 Richard Tucker award, soprano PATRICIA RACETTE (Tosca) is setting the standard in works both classic and new. Racette has developed strong relationships with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera (where she is an alumna of the Merola Opera Program and a former Adler Fellow), Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and the Santa Fe Opera. Seen regularly at these houses, her many roles have included the title roles in Jenu°fa, Luisa Miller, Madama Butterfly, and Kátya Kabanová; Violetta in La traviata, Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, Mimì and Musetta in La bohème, Nedda in Pagliacci, Desdemona in Otello, Marguerite in Faust, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Leonora in Il trovatore, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Elisabetta in Don Carlos, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, Liù in Turandot, Micaela in Carmen, Antonia in Les contes d'Hoffman, Alice in Falstaff, Mathilde in Guillaume Tell, and Margherita in Boito's Mefistofele.

Racette has also appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Opéra National de Paris (Bastille); Teatro alla Scala; Opera di Genova; Vienna State Opera; Welsh National Opera; and the Saito Kinen Festival.

A supporter of new works by today's leading composers, Racette created the title role in the Santa Fe Opera's world premiere of Tobias Picker's Emmeline, which was shown on PBS' Great Performances. She also created the role of Love Simpson in the Houston Grand Opera's world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree and has since performed the role at the San Diego Opera.

On the concert platform, Racette has appeared with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Cologne Philharmonic. She also recently recorded Zemlinsky's Der Traumgorge with James Conlon and the Cologne Philharmonic.

This season, Racette returns to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Alice in Falstaff and to create the role of Roberta Alden in the world premiere of Tobias Picker's new opera, An American Tragedy. She sings Cio-Cio-San at both the San Francisco Opera and the Los Angeles Opera, and returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Micaela and to the Opera di Genova as Katya.

Born and raised in New Hampshire, Racette studied jazz and music education at North Texas State University.

06/06