Winner of the prestigious 1998 Richard Tucker Award, Patricia Racette created the role of Roberta Alden in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy at the Metropolitan Opera, which was broadcast internationally on December 24, 2005.

A former Merola Opera Program participant and Adler Fellow, the American soprano made her San Francisco Opera debut in 1989 as Mistress Ford in family performances of Falstaff and has subsequently sung many roles with the Company, among them Liù (Turandot), Desdemona (Otello), Mimì (La Bohème), Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Micaëla in (Carmen), Mathilde (Guillaume Tell), Violetta (La Traviata), as well as the title roles Luisa Miller, Jenůfa, and Madama Butterfly. Racette garnered international acclaim in the title role of Tobias Picker’s Emmeline at the Santa Fe Opera (a production which was nationally televised on the PBS Great Performances series) and also created the role of Love Simpson in the Houston Grand Opera’s world premiere of Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree.

Her most recent engagements include Alice in Falstaff for Houston Grand Opera, Nedda (Pagliacci) and Elisabetta (Don Carlo) with The Metropolitan Opera, the title role of Jenůfa with Dallas Opera, and opening Chicago Lyric Opera’s 2006-07 season as Liù (Turandot). In Europe, Racette has been applauded as Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes) at La Scala, Mimì at London’s Royal Opera and the Vienna State Opera, Micaëla at Geneva Opera, as well as Blanche de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites), Musetta (La Bohème), and Violetta at Paris Opera.

On the concert platform, Ms 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, San Francisco Symphony, and the Cologne Philharmonic. She also recently recorded Zemlinsky’s Der Traumgorge with James Conlon and the Cologne Philharmonic. Born and raised in New Hampshire, Racette studied jazz and music education at North Texas State University. She reprises her critically acclaimed performances in the title role of Madama Butterfly with San Francisco Opera this December.