SAN DIEGO – San Diego Opera welcomes back soprano Patricia Racette for her wildly-acclaimed “Diva on Detour” program which features the renowned singer performing cabaret and jazz standards by Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Edith Piaf, among others, Saturday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at the Balboa Theatre.
Racette is well known to San Diego Opera audiences, making her Company debut in 1995 as Mimì in La bohème, and returning in 2001 as Love Simpson in Cold Sassy Tree (a role she created for the world premiere at Houston Grand Opera), in 2004 for the title role of Katya Kabanova, and in 2009 as Cio-Cio San in Madama Buttefly. She continues to appear regularly in the most acclaimed opera houses of the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. Known as a great interpreter of Janáček and Puccini, she has gained particular notoriety for her portrayals of the title roles of Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Jenůfa, Katya Kabanova, and all three leading soprano roles in Il Trittico. Her varied repertory also encompasses the leading roles of Mimì and Musetta in La bohème, Nedda in Pagliacci, Elisabetta in Don Carlos, Leonora in Il trovatore, Alice in Falstaff, Marguerite in Faust, Mathilde in Guillaume Tell, Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmélites, Margherita in Boito’s Mefistofele, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, The Governess in The Turn of the Screw, and Tatyana in Eugene Onegin as well as the title roles of La traviata, Susannah, Luisa Miller, and Iphigénie en Tauride.
Joining her for her recital is pianist Craig Terry who made his Company debut last season accompanying Stephanie Blythe for her acclaimed presentation of “We’ll Meet Again: The Songs of Kate Smith.”
Tickets to “Diva on Detour” at the Balboa Theatre range from $20 to $120. A post-concert reception at the US Grant Hotel is also available for $75 per person. Tickets can be purchased at (619) 533-7000, Monday–Friday from 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM or online anytime at www.sdopera.com.
