A Streetcar Named Desire

Soprano Patricia Racette has appeared in the most acclaimed opera houses of the world including The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Opera House, La Scala, Paris Opera, Theater an der Wien, Gran Teatro del Liceu, and the Bayerische Staatsoper. Established as a great interpreter of Janáček and Puccini, Racette has gained particular acclaim for her portrayals of the title roles of Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Jenufa, Kátya Kabanová, and all three lead soprano roles in Il Trittico. Racette's repertory now expands to include triumphant portrayals of Strauss’s Salome, Minnie in La Fancuilla del West, Katerina in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Magda in Menotti’s The Consul, Anna Maurrant in Street Scene, Kostelnička in Jenufa, and Elle in La voix humaine. In the fall of 2019, Racette added to this list Sister Helen in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking which she performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Racette has been a favorite on The Met: Live in HD series as both leading lady in Madame Butterfly, Tosca, and Peter Grimes, as well as the celebrated host for multiple other productions.

A champion of new works, Racette has created roles in a number of world premieres, including Leslie Crosbie in Paul Moravec’s The Letter at The Santa Fe Opera, Roberta Alden in Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy at The Metropolitan Opera, the title role in Tobias Picker’s Emmeline at the Santa Fe Opera (broadcast on PBS/Albany Records audio), Love Simpson in Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree at the Houston Grand Opera, and most recently, the title role in Tobias Picker's Dolores Claiborne at the San Francisco Opera.

Racette made her directorial debut with a new production of La Traviata at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in the summer of 2018. Plans to direct Susannah at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and a production of La voix humaine starring herself at the Dallas Opera in the spring of 2020 were unfortunately cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic.

Racette was recently named the Artistic Director of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ Gerdine Young Artist and Richard Gaddes Festival Artist programs. Racette also continues to be sought after for master classes and workshops to foster artistry in the next generation of classical singer. In January 2017, Racette presented the pilot program of her intensive seminar, Integrative Artistry, at the San Francisco Conservatory, and has since presented it at The Juilliard School and the Washington National Opera.

Born and raised in New Hampshire, Racette studied jazz and music education at North Texas State University. Among Racette's recognitions are an Opera News Award, the prestigious Richard Tucker Award, and the Marian Anderson Award. Racette also received the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for her performance in the Los Angeles Opera’s production of The Ghosts of Versailles.

A winner of the 2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, 2015 George London Award, 2015 Elizabeth Connell prize for aspiring dramatic sopranos, and recipient of a 2015 Sara Tucker Study Grant, soprano Julie Adams has been praised by The New York Times for possessing a voice that is “rich, full and slightly earthy in an expressive way.” The 2019/20 Season sees Adams returning to Arizona Opera as Mimì in La bohème after her 2018/19 house debut with Arizona Opera as Anna Sorensen in Silent Night by Kevin Puts. In the 2018/19 Season Adams made her house debut with Des Moines Metro Opera as Mimì in La bohème, and was featured in recital under the auspices of the George London Foundation. Orchestral engagements included Beethoven’s Symphony Number 9 with the Phoenix Symphony conducted by Tito Muñoz, and a concert version of West Side Story with the Oakland Symphony.

The 2017/18 Season saw Adams return to San Francisco Opera as a guest artist in Francesca Zambello’s production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, singing Freia in Das Rheingold and Gerhilde in Die Walküre. Additional engagements included her house and role debut as Countess in The Marriage of Figaro at Michigan Opera Theatre, conducted by Stephen Lord and her house debut at Opera Idaho as Blanche in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire.

Highlights at San Francisco Opera include Mimì conducted by Carlo Montanaro, First Lady in the Jun Kanako production of The Magic Flute, Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, Kristina in Makropulos Case, Cesira in the world premiere of Marco Tutino’s La Ciociara, and covering both Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the title role in Jenůfa.

Additional operatic highlights include appearances as Mimì in La bohème and Anna Sørensen in Silent Night with Opera San Jose, her role debut as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire as part of the 2014 Merola Opera Program, Lia in Debussy’s L’Enfant Prodigue at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Pamina in The Magic Flute at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and Magnolia Hawks in Show Boat and Rose in Street Scene with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. Additional roles include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Blanche in The Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. On the recital stage Adams was featured as part of the Schwabacher Debut Recital series with John Churchwell, which the San Francisco Chronicle praised her “combination of plush tone and seeming effortless vocal power.”

Orchestral performances include Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Contra Costa Wind Symphony, and a chamber concert with San Francisco Opera musicians as part of SF Opera Lab’s Chamberworks Concerts, with repertoire including Morgen! by Strauss, Previn’s Vocalise, Eternamente by Ponchielli, and Chausson’s Chanson Perpetuelle. Haydn’s Mass in C Major with Oakland East Bay Symphony, Brahms’ Requiem, and Vivaldi’s Gloria with Ventura College Orchestra, and a set of five Joseph Marx Lieder with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra.

A native of Burbank, California, Adams holds both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she was awarded the Phyllis C Wattis Memorial Scholarship.

"Gotimer is a force of nature on stage… Her soaring vocal range and the depth of her acting establish Juliette as the driving force of the affair." — Broadway World

This summer, Gotimer makes her European debut as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Deutsche Oper Berlin. She also makes her debut as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro as a Renée Fleming Artist at the Aspen Music Festival, and she covers Musetta in La Bohème with the Bravo Vail Music Festival. Later, in the 2024/25 Season, Gotimer debuts in Pagliacci (Nedda) with Pittsburgh Opera; La fiamma (Silvana cover and La Voce) with Deutsche Oper Berlin; and La Bohème (Mimi) with Arizona Opera.

In the 2023/24 Season, Gotimer made her debut as Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo & Juliette with Arizona Opera, her Palm Beach Opera and Dayton Opera debuts as Tosca, and her Santa Fe Symphony debut as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah. In the 2022/23 Season, Gotimer debuted as Tosca with Arizona Opera, made her Dallas Opera debut as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and joined The Santa Fe Opera's Apprentice Program, where she covered Tosca.

In her residency with the Marion Roose Pullin Arizona Opera Studio, Gotimer made main stage debuts in Carmen (Micaëla), Così fan tutte (Fiordiligi), and A Little Night Music (Mrs. Anderssen). During her tenure as a resident artist with Pittsburgh Opera, she appeared as the title role in Handel’s Alcina, Elettra in a reimagining of Mozart’s Idomeneo, and covered Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème. With Crested Butte Opera Studio, Gotimer performed as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi and Musetta in La Bohème. Other roles in Gotimer’s repertoire include the title role in Suor Angelica and Magda in La Rondine. In concert, Gotimer was a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem in D minor at the Festival Songe d’été en musique in Québec and Bach’s Missa Brevis in F with Binghamton University.

Gotimer won two top awards in the YPO/Florida Grand Opera Voice Competition and was the district winner of the 2022 Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. She was a semifinalist in both the 2022 Vincerò Competition and the 2020 Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition, a finalist in the 2020 Pittsburgh Festival Opera’s Mildred Miller Competition, the Second Prize and Audience Favorite Award winner at the 2017 Opera Guild of Dayton Competition, the recipient of the Italo Tajo Award in CCM’s 2017 Corbett Competition, and the winner of the 2015 National Biennial Collegiate Voice Competition hosted by NFMC.

Gotimer holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and she received her Bachelor of Music in Voice from Binghamton University.

Baritone Thomas Glass is a Grand Prize winner of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a recent alum of the Houston Grand Opera Studio.

In the 2019/20 Season he returns to Houston Grand Opera for a role debut as Papageno in Barrie Kosky’s acclaimed production of The Magic Flute, under the baton of Jane Glover. He makes house and role debuts with Atlanta Opera as Dandini in La Cenerentola, and Arizona Opera as John Lassiter in Riders of the Purple Sage. On the concert stage, he joins Ars Lyrica Houston for a program of Bach and presents a solo recital with the Nantucket Musical Arts Society.

In the 2018/19 Season, Glass made his role debut as Marcello in La bohème with Houston Grand Opera, and subsequently made his Des Metro Opera debut in the role. At Houston Grand Opera, he also sang Alvaro in Florencia en el Amazonas and covered the title role in Don Giovanni.

Career highlights include multiple assignments with Houston Grand Opera including role debuts as Figaro in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Baron Duphol in La Traviata, and Officer Krupke in Bernstein’s West Side Story, as well as covering the role of Achilla in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto. He joined Wolf Trap Opera to sing Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and was the baritone soloist for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bramwell Tovey.

A former Resident Artist at Minnesota Opera, Glass made his professional debut as Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, created the role of Gustave in the world premiere of William Bolcom’s Dinner at Eight, and made his role debut as Schaunard in La bohème. An alum of the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, he was featured in the Schwabacher Concert, performing Athanaël in Massenet’s Thaïs and singing Ford’s Monologue from Verdi’s Falstaff in the Grand Finale Concert.

Born in Edina, Minnesota, Thomas earned his Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. While at Rice, he sang the roles of Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Peter in Hansel and Gretel, and Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Music Business.

Tenor Brandon Scott Russell is a 2018 National Semi-Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has been noted to have a “free-flowing tenor of considerable beauty and accomplishment” (Opera Today).

Most recently, Russell made his company and role debut as Canio in Pagliacci with Greensboro Opera, where Russell’s “top effortlessly filling the auditorium with anguished but beautiful sound” (Voix Des Arts). Russell was a participant in the 2019 Merola Opera Program where he created the role of David in Jake Heggie’s World Premiere Opera If I were you, where he “made his presence felt with his booming voice” (Parterre Box). During the Merola Opera Grand Finale he received critical acclaim for his Act 1 aria from Rusalka where his “lyric beauty of voice combined with outstanding diction” as he “filled the auditorium with ringing clarity” (San Francisco Classical Voice & Bay Area Reporter).

In his 2018/19 Season, Russell made his Carnegie Hall debut with MidAmerica International singing as the Tenor Soloist in Haydn’s Mass in C Major. He was a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, covering Alfredo in La traviata, Mr. Marshall in Regina, and performing in the Stars of Tomorrow Concert. He returned to Cincinnati Opera where he performed as The Teacher in Julien Bilodeau's U.S. Premiere of Another Brick in the Wall where he was “one of the evening’s standouts who wielded a big voice and stick to match” (Cincinnati Biz Journal). He made his company and role debut with Winter Opera Saint Louis as Alfred in Die Fledermaus and was a Resident Artist with Knoxville Opera performing as Edgardo in a touring production of Lucia di Lammermoor.

His 2017/18 Season consisted of multiple company and role debuts. At the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM) Russell performed as the title role in Candide and as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi where he “displayed an exciting Italianate tenor in his aria praising Florence, with the power to soar over Puccini’s voluptuous orchestra” (Cincinnati Business Courier). During Cincinnati Opera's Summer Festival, he sang the roles of 1st armored man in The Magic Flute and Parpignol in La bohème (while covering the leading tenor roles of Tamino and Rodolfo). Russell debuted with Springfield Regional Opera performing the role of Cassio in their performance of Verdi's Otello.

Other notable credits include Idomeneo (Idomeneo), Alfredo (La traviata), Narraboth (Salome), and Don José (Carmen). He has had success with the MONCA where he has received three encouragement awards at the district level, three district wins moving on to the regionals, and one 1st place regional win making him a 2018 National Semi-Finalist. He received 2nd place in the 2018 National Partners For the Arts Competition and received 3rd place in the 2017 Shreveport Opera Competition.

Russell has participated across the United States in prestigious young artist programs, such as the Merola Opera Program, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, The Wolf Trap Opera Company, Cincinnati Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy.

Russell completed his undergraduate studies at The University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, where he performed in the Main Stage productions of Dialogues of the Carmelites (Le Chevalier), La tragédie de Carmen (Don José), and in The Merry Widow (Camille de Rosillon). He was a UMKC Trustees’ Scholar receiving a double degree in Vocal Performance and Music Education, graduating with summa cum laude Latin Honors.

He holds Masters and Artist Diploma degrees at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, where he studied under the tutelage of William McGraw.

American tenor Terrence Chin-Loy, whom Opera News described as having a "beautiful lyric tenor voice” pairs passionate performance with a full, sweet sound. In the 2022/23 Season, Chin-Loy will perform Tamino in The Magic Flute with the National Taichung Theater in Taiwan as well as at Arizona Opera, Don José in Carmen with MasterVoices at Lincoln Center, Old Head 2 and Charlie in the world premiere of Factotum with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Acis in Acis and Galatea with Eugene Opera, and join the roster of The Metropolitan Opera to cover the role of Arbace in Idomeneo. In concert, Chin-Loy joins the North Carolina Symphony for Mozart’s Requiem, and the Boise Philharmonic for a performance of Hailstork’s I Will Life Mine Eyes as well as a residency with the College of Idaho.

Chin-Loy opened the 2021/22 Season in his solo debut at The Metropolitan Opera in Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up In My Bones. Chin-Loy returned to Arizona Opera for his second and final season as a Marion Roose Pullin Resident Artist where he performed Henrik Egerman in A Little Night Music and Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Benny Paret Jr. in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Champion. In concert, Chin-Loy performed and recorded Taneyev’s At the Reading of a Psalm with the American Symphony Orchestra and Leon Botstein at Carnegie Hall.

In the 2020/21 Season, Chin-Loy sang a series of concerts with Arizona Opera as a member of the Studio, and joined the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Twin Stars, a piece by Daniel Bernard Roumain about the shooting of Philando Castile. Chin-Loy also appeared in William Grant Still's Highway 1 as a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre Saint Louis. In the 2019/20 Season, Chin-Loy joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera as Mingo (Cover) in Porgy and Bess and the New York Festival of Song as a part of the Vocal Rising Stars series at Caramoor.

Chin-Loy 's favorite roles include Idomeneo in Idomeneo: afterWARds (Pittsburgh Opera), director David Paul's retelling of Mozart's masterpiece with the composer's original music, Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (Indiana University), and Younger Thompson in Tom Cipullo's Glory Denied (Pittsburgh Opera, Penn Square Music Festival). Chin-Loy was happy to make his Carnegie Hall debut in Handel's Messiah in the 2018/19 Season.

Chin-Loy is a graduate of Indiana University, where he received a Performer Diploma, and holds degrees from Mannes College and Yale University. At Mannes, Chin-Loy performed the roles of Laurie in Mark Adamo's Little Women and Bill in the New York premiere of Jonathan Dove's Flight with Mannes Opera, and received the Michael Sisca Opera Award, the school's top prize for an opera singer. Chin-Loy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Yale University, where his studies concentrated on Music Theory and Musicology. While at Yale, Chin-Loy was also a frequent performer with the Yale Baroque Opera Project, with which he performed major roles in La Calisto, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, and Scipione affricano. Chin-Loy is a 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions National Semifinalist.