Soprano Patricia Racette will change into creative director of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, filling a key administration place of an organization she has been related to since her debut there in 1993.
Normal Director Andrew Jorgensen mentioned Tuesday that she’s going to take over on Oct. 1 from James Robinson, who had been creative director since 2009 and introduced in June that he was changing into normal and creative director of the Seattle Opera. Racette has headed the St. Louis firm’s younger artist packages since 2019.
“I already have such a rich relationship with the company and with Andrew, so it’s sort of taking it to the next level,” she mentioned. “It is my job to sort of be a leader in terms of programming, casting, creatives.”
The corporate’s 2025 season has 25 staged performances of 4 works, together with the world premiere on Could 31 of Ricky Ian Gordon’s “This House,” with a libretto by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and her daughter, Ruby Aiyo Gerber. The corporate initiatives its working price range at $12.5 million to $13 million.
Racette, who turns 60 subsequent month, made her directing debut in St. Louis with Verdi’s “La Traviata” in 2018 and went on to direct in Poulenc’s “La Voix Humaine” in 2021 and Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah” in 2023.
“Having lived my life on stage and now as a director, I’ve been on both sides of the curtain,” she mentioned. “I think that puts me in a unique position to understand what goes into putting on an opera.”
Racette is to sing in Polenc’s “Dialogues des Carmélites” at The Dallas Opera in November and to direct her “Susannah” at Opera Omaha in January. She’s going to work in St. Louis with an administration that features principal conductor Daniela Candillari and already has been concerned in future programming.
“As she’s added master teacher, as she’s added mentor, as she has become a stage director, as she has taken a greater role in casting here,” Jorgensen mentioned, “she has proven just time and again that all of those skills that made her such a spectacular performer, she now understands how to how to bring all of that, harness it and leverage it for the broader benefit of the organization.”
