Patricia Racette Takes Tosca to Center Field in Washington, D.C.

"Join Washington National Opera for the fourth-annual Opera in the Outfield, a free, live opera broadcast of Puccini's Tosca on Thursday, September 22 at 7:30 p.m. (gates open at 5:30 p.m.). Arrive early to the ballpark to enjoy entertainment and activities including:
- Performances by community youth groups including the Greenbelt S.I.T.Y. Stars double-dutch team of Greenbelt, MD, the award-winning Yorktown High School Marching Band from Arlington, VA, and the DC-based Taratibu Pan-African Step Team.
- A screening of the Warner Bros. cartoon "What's Opera, Doc?," starring Bugs Bunny and his nemesis Elmer Fudd.
- Chances to win prizes, including a VIP suite for a Nationals Game and tickets to Kennedy Center performances.
Register now for a reserved seating section at the park and be automatically entered to win a full season subscription for two to Washington National Opera's 2011-2012 season! No purchase (or seating pass request) necessary to win. A purchase or reservation will not increase your chances of winning. For more information on the giveaway, please visit the Opera in the Outfield Registration Giveaway Official Rules page. By entering the giveaway you agree that you have reviewed the full contest rules and agree to be bound by all terms and conditions." [Source]

Details after the jump.



Registration closes September 19 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Please Note: Opera in the Outfield is free and open to the public. Reservations are encouraged but not required. Seating in the stands and on the outfield grass will be available for walk-ins at the event.

Nationals Park is located at 1500 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, DC 20003.

Guests who plan to sit in the outfield grass may bring blankets to sit on. Chairs are not permitted on the grass. Nationals Park concessions will be open for the simulcast. No alcoholic beverages may be brought into Nationals Park. No bags larger than 16 inches x 16 inches x 8 inches will be allowed into the ballpark. All bags are subject to inspection. Guests are prohibited from bringing hard containers into Nationals Park. Click here for a complete list of prohibited items in Nationals Park.

Australia's 2011 Helpmann Award-Winners Announced

"The annual Helpmann Awards® recognise distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in the many disciplines of Australia's vibrant live performance sectors, including musical theatre, contemporary music, comedy, opera, classical music, theatre, dance and physical theatre. The Helpmann Awards also incorporates the JC Williamson Award for outstanding contribution to the Australian live performance industry. The Helpmann Awards®, named in honour of Sir Robert Helpmann and to commemorate his memory and achievements, were established in 2001 by Live Performance Australia (LPA) to recognise, celebrate and promote our live performance industry, similar to the Tony Awards on Broadway and the Olivier Awards in London. The principal objective of LPA in establishing the Awards is to nationally and internationally serve and promote the Australian live performance industry by:
- recognising distinguished artistic achievement and excellence
- ensuring the Awards are administered and produced with integrity
- ensuring the Awards are celebrated by the industry and the Australian community
- ensuring the Awards are the most prestigious awards in the industry and the highlight of each Season." [Source]

Nominees this season included (pictured above left to right): Rinat Shaham, Rachel Durkin, Emma Matthews and Patricia Racette. A complete list of this year's nominees (and winners) by category is after the jump.



2011Helpmann Awards – All the winners
Opera: Opera Australia, Partenope
Direction of an opera: Nigel Jamieson, La Fanciulla del West
Male performer in an opera: John Wegner, La Fanciulla del West
Female performer in an opera: Emma Matthews, Partenope
Male performer in a supporting role in an opera: Kanen Breen, Partenope
Female performer in a supporting role in an opera: Elizabeth Campbell, Aida
Individual classical performance: Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Chamber and-or instrumental ensemble concert: Garrick Ohlsson, in recital as part of the Sydney Symphony International Pianists in Recital Series
Symphony orchestra concert: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Racette and Terfel Team Up Again for "Tosca" at Ravinia Festival

Maestro Conlon leads Racette and Licitra
(Photo: Patrick Gipson/Ravinia Festival)

"The trio of leads included two-thirds of the spring Metropolitan Opera cast from the Luc Bondy production that continues to stoke controversy in opera circles. At the core was a gripping, seething portrayal of the loathsome Scarpia by Bryn Terfel. The Welsh bass-baritone assumed a more static stage presence than the other cast members, yet he effortlessly commanded the full attention of a captivated audience with malevolent, coiled-spring intensity. His depiction of the sadistic police chief evolved from calm, confident brutality to wounded, vengeful fury, all evinced without bellowing or bombast. Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra has been well received at the Met and elsewhere for his idiomatic, dulcet-toned Cavaradossi. In this reading there was a hint of grain in a few top notes, as well as scenes in which he seemed needlessly risk-averse. On the whole his warm and ardent portrayal earned hearty and well-deserved kudos from his grateful admirers. Soprano Patricia Racette has also scored triumphs with leading companies in the title role, and her absorbing performance Saturday affirmed her status as a leading Tosca of our time. She wasn’t as vocally dazzling as some who have personified the celebrated singer and jealous lover, but she brought an honest dignity to a role often overwrought by helpless despair." [Source]

Patricia Racette Excels in Title Role of Iphigénie For WNO

Racette in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride at Washington National Opera (Photo: Scott Suchman)

"Without any daringly ornamented arias or anything extraneous that might divert attention from the story's dramatic continuity, a Gluck opera will succeed only with talented singing actors and compelling direction. There are almost none of the tried-and-true operatic clichés to fall back on, not even a romantic intrigue: the central relationship here is of brother and sister, who do not even recognize one another until the end. In the title role, soprano Patricia Racette was riveting, the searing strength of her voice underscoring the still intensity of her stage presence. This was certainly what one expected of Racette, after such satisfying turns here as Jenůfa in 2007 and Ellen Orford in 2009, but her bold and electrifying performance far exceeded my hopes. After some tentative notes at the top of her range in the first hour or so, Racette hit her stride, singing with lyrical abandon in the Act IV aria 'Je t'implore et je tremble.'" [Source]

More production photos after the jump.

All photos by Scott Suchman for the Washington National Opera.

"The Turn of the Screw" Gets a Scrubdown For L.A. Opera

Patricia Racette stars in 1950s update
(Photo: Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)

"Michael Kepler Meo, an impressively confident boy soprano with an eloquent musicality and a becoming stage manner, was a vulnerable Miles. Britten's score and Myfanwy Piper’s libretto suggest a boy who is more a threat, but this Miles was the modern innocent abused and wounded, seeking comfort. That played into Racette's Governess, whose hysteria proved compelling theater, if on the all-purpose side. She seemed the sort who could have been done in by just about anything. Both she and Ann Murray (Mrs. Grose) have large voices, and although they enunciated the English text admirably, they also produced a vibrato-rich blend in ensemble passages that undid them. Ashley Emerson was a striking Flora, the little angel who isn’t such a little angel. William Burden was a suave Quint and also sang the prologue with polish if without the curious edge characteristic of Britten tenors. Tamara Wilson's Miss Jessel was more a spook, coming across as having just been dredged from the lake. An odder, angrier, more mysterious Turn of the Screw can leave an audience too shaken to applaud. Saturday was a night to cheer the cleverness of a director and designer and the devotion of singers, a virtuoso instrumental ensemble and Conlon's engaged conducting." [Source]