Opera Theatre of St. Louis selects Patricia Racette as its next artistic director

Opera Theatre of St. Louis leaders announced Tuesday they have selected opera artist Patricia Racette as the organization’s next artistic director.

Racette, a soprano and stage director, will be the third person to serve as artistic director since the retirement of founding artistic leader Richard Gaddes in 1985 and will be the first woman to hold the job. She has been the artistic director for OTSL’s programs for young artists since 2019.

“It’s a new chapter for me and a new chapter for the company. It would be foolish to not capitalize on the great things that we have done and the excellence that we have achieved,” Racette said, “but I think it's important to have a mind towards allowing evolution.”

Preceding artistic director James Robinson was in the job for 16 years before leaving OTSL last year to lead the Seattle Opera.

Opera Theatre begins its 50th season this month. The organization announced in March that it has the former Caleres headquarters in downtown Clayton under contract for purchase. If the sale goes forward, Opera Theatre officials want to build a new performance space on the site. Opera Theatre nearly doubled the size of its endowment in 2020 after receiving its largest-ever donation: a $45 million bequest by philanthropist and board member Phyllis Brissenden.

Opera Theatre of St. Louis

Racette first performed at Opera Theatre in 1993, singing the role of Elvira in “Don Giovanni.” The next season, she returned to sing the title role of “Iphigenia in Tauris.” She made her debut as a stage director at Opera Theatre, leading a fresh take on Verdi’s “La traviata.” In 1998 she won the Richard Tucker Award, a prestigious accolade for emerging opera singers. She’s also an accomplished cabaret performer and will bring her tribute to French singer Edith Piaf to the Sheldon Concert Hall in October.

“She's shown that she is able to apply the taste and the determination and the understanding of a career spent honing and maintaining her own personal excellence and the excellence of everything that she has been associated with,” said Opera Theatre General Director Andrew Jorgensen. “She's shown that she's able to use those skills and that taste and that sensibility and pass it along, and to put her thumbprint onto other things and to make those things stronger through what she has learned,” Jorgensen added.

Racette said her goals as artistic director include continuing Opera Theatre’s commitment to developing new works — the company premieres its 45th new opera this season — and taking fresh looks at familiar works. She’d also like to scout lesser-known operas.

“That's the endless beauty of this art form — you can bring back the traditional titles that are so richly beloved in this canon, but I would like to bring in some titles that we've never done and some lesser-known works,” Racette said.

Racette is a New Hampshire native who now lives in Santa Fe. She officially begins as Opera Theatre’s artistic director in October.