Wherever American soprano Patricia Racette sings in major opera houses here and abroad, she reaps raves for her beautiful voice and her natural acting ability. Those talents are multiplied when she prefaces her appearance in the title role of Washington National Opera’s new co-production of Leos Janácek’s “Jenufa” by wowing a Birchmere audience with her “Flip Side” as cabaret chanteuse.
Lucky Washington! Backed by Larry Dunlap on piano and abass player of his choosing, Racette inaugurates her stay in town by kicking off her heels Tuesday for an evening of songs by Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Stephen Sondheim, Vernon Duke, Cy Coleman, David Friedman and a host of her favorite composers.
The winner of the 1994 Marian Anderson Award and the 1998 Richard Tucker Award, she is a veteran of many productions with the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera — where she went through the prestigious Merola Opera Program. Having achieved sufficient stature in the opera world to choose roles that please her, she is amply confident to return to her roots in jazz whenever the whim arises.
“This is like coming full circle,” she says. “When I entered the jazz program at North Texas State University, they didn’t have a vocal jazz major, but I was required to take vocal lessons. It soon became very evident that my voice lent itself to the classical genre, and although I didn’t like opera so much at the time, the more I studied the more I fell in love with it.
“I’m happiest playing a strong woman like Butterfly or Tosca. I sang Tosca in the Hollywood Bowl for the first time last season and want to do again. As hard as you try to flesh them out, there’s very little you can do with Michaela (in ‘Carmen’) or Liu (in ‘Turandot’), so I don’t care to sing those kinds of roles again.”
Racette thrives on variety and is especially open to contemporary opera. She uses her uncommon acting ability to create characters like Carlisle Floyd’s Love Simpson in his “Cold Sassy Tree,” the title role in Tobias Picker’s “Emmeline” and Roberta in Picker’s “An American Tragedy” at the Met, all world premieres.
“Both composers are open to dialogue about the strength and weaknesses of my voice,” she says. “At the same time, their characters are interesting and complicated, just like Jenufa. I love portraying her because Janácek brings outher passionate dreams, her anger and her joy.
“My goal is to put the most effective and searing storytelling skills into play no matter what I’m singing. The cabaret gigs started as a passionate hobby and now I do them whenever the opportunity arises. I love the feeling I get when I’m singing songs like ‘Here’s That Rainy Day’ and ‘Guess Who I Saw Today’ and the simplicity of sharing them in that atmosphere.” Laughing, she promises, “The Birchmere audience can look forward to discovering that I have a lot of low notes.”
IF YOU GO
Patricia Racette
» Venue: The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria
» Time: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
» Tickets: $28
» Info: (202) 397-SEAT (7328), (410) 547-SEAT, (703) 583 SEAT, or visit Ticketmaster.com
