Racette

Racette keeps polishing her cabaret act and will perform an evening of songs in Dallas next month and again at Pace University in March 2012.

Susan Dormady Eisenberg: Soprano Patricia Racette Talks About Tosca as Washington National Opera Launches its Fall Season Susan Dormady Eisenberg 2011

Since Racette's a veteran of Met HD broadcasts, she feels upbeat about this outside-the-opera-house trend.

Susan Dormady Eisenberg: Soprano Patricia Racette Talks About Tosca as Washington National Opera Launches its Fall Season Susan Dormady Eisenberg 2011

Bondy's staging was offbeat and controversial, whereas Racette says the WNO production by David Kneuss will be traditional.

Susan Dormady Eisenberg: Soprano Patricia Racette Talks About Tosca as Washington National Opera Launches its Fall Season Susan Dormady Eisenberg 2011

Since Racette's a veteran of Met HD broadcasts, she feels upbeat about this outside-the-opera-house trend.

Susan Dormady Eisenberg: Soprano Patricia Racette Talks About Tosca as Washington National Opera Launches its Fall Season Susan Dormady Eisenberg 2011

Patricia Racette, a soprano renowned for her vocal radiance and skilled acting, returns to Washington National Opera this Saturday as the company launches its first season under the aegis of the Kennedy Center.

Susan Dormady Eisenberg: Soprano Patricia Racette Talks About Tosca as Washington National Opera Launches its Fall Season Susan Dormady Eisenberg 2011

Making her local debut as Tosca, Racette will portray the beloved diva who lives for art and dies for love as Napoleon flees Rome, circa 1800.

Susan Dormady Eisenberg: Soprano Patricia Racette Talks About Tosca as Washington National Opera Launches its Fall Season Susan Dormady Eisenberg 2011

"Patricia Racette is a deeply affecting and impassioned Tosca," wrote Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times.

Susan Dormady Eisenberg: Soprano Patricia Racette Talks About Tosca as Washington National Opera Launches its Fall Season Susan Dormady Eisenberg 2011

Though Racette is now at the top of her operatic game, she originally hoped to sing jazz, and she recalls fondly that her high school choir director took her to hear the great Sarah Vaughan.

Susan Dormady Eisenberg: Soprano Patricia Racette Talks About Tosca as Washington National Opera Launches its Fall Season Susan Dormady Eisenberg 2011

And whereas nine years ago Racette told author Eric Myers that she had no operatic niche, having staked out an eclectic repertoire that ran the gamut from La Traviata to Tobias Picker's Emmeline, she has lately come to regard two iconic Puccini heroines, Tosca and Cio Cio San, a.k.a.

Susan Dormady Eisenberg: Soprano Patricia Racette Talks About Tosca as Washington National Opera Launches its Fall Season Susan Dormady Eisenberg 2011

Apologizing for her casual clothes -- "I'm thrown on the floor a lot," she quips -- Racette is a stunning woman with honey-blond hair and hazel eyes.

Susan Dormady Eisenberg: Soprano Patricia Racette Talks About Tosca as Washington National Opera Launches its Fall Season Susan Dormady Eisenberg 2011