Jenufa - Preparing for new roles and the evolution of a career with singing actress Patricia Racette

Destination Santa Fe Opera

All eyes in the village are on Jenufa. Her fiancé sees only a trophy wife. Her rejected suitor sees a chance to avenge the most cutting wrongs in his past. Her righteous stepmother sees her own life’s tragedy about to play out again for her child. The results are two unspeakable crimes which lead to the opera’s true theme—that the wounds of troubled lives can be assuaged through acceptance, forgiveness, and hope.

Patricia Racette returns to the Santa Fe Opera for her 10th role on our stage in this production of Jenufa by Leos Janáček, staged by David Alden. Having performed the role of Jenufa many, many times, Patricia now takes on the role of the stepmother, Kostelnicka.

Cori and Patricia talk about what it's like to prepare for a new character in an opera she knows so well; her career expansion from ingenue to more mature, dramatic roles; her passion for coaching young singers; a return to her musical theatre roots; and the answer to the burning question on all Santa Feans' minds -- red or green?

Follow Patricia at http://patriciaracette.com on Twitter @patriciaracette and on Facebook @divapatriciaracette.

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Jenufa runs at the Santa Fe Opera July 20 - August 15, 2019.

Learn more and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org.

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Beyond the Opera is produced for the Santa Fe Opera by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Our audio engineer is Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe.

Our hosts are dramaturg Cori Ellison and Kathleen Clawson, associate director of the Santa Fe Opera apprentice singer program.