Soprano Patricia Racette will become artistic director of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, filling a key management position of a company she has been associated with since her debut there in 1993.
General Director Andrew Jorgensen said Tuesday that she will take over on Oct. 1 from James Robinson, who had been artistic director since 2009 and announced in June that he was becoming general and artistic director of the Seattle Opera. Racette has headed the St. Louis company's young artist programs since 2019.
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“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 said. “It is my job to sort of be a leader in terms of programming, casting, creatives.”
The company's 2025 season has 25 staged performances of four works, including the world premiere on May 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 company projects its operating budget at $12.5 million to $13 million.
Racette, who turns 60 next 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 said. “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 will work in St. Louis with an administration that includes principal conductor Daniela Candillari and already has been involved 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 said, “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.”