It’s hardly a secret that QUEERGURU is a major fan of trans-opera singer LUCIA LUCAS. and we are so thrilled that she has just been named one of OperaWire’s Top 11 Singers of 2023
The last time we sat down to talk with her was this past November on the occasion of the World Premiere of Tobias Picker’s new opera LiLI Elba about the Danish painter and trans woman. Lucas’s performance creating this role at Theater St Gallen in Switzerland resulted in rave reviews.
Before that, we crossed paths with Lucas in May 2021 when she talked about the award-winning documentary film The Sound of Identity that profiled her stunning US debut in Pecker’s production of Don Giovanni at The Tulsa Opera House. We wrote at the time From the very first scene of James Kicklighter’s film is impossible not to warm to the disarmingly charming Lucas. Besides her powerful voice that literally sends shivers down your back, both her quiet confidence and her sheer natural generosity of spirit, leave you slightly in awe. Lucas insists that there is more to her than being trans, and that is so reflected in how Kicklighter filmed her story.
Now in. naming Lucas one of the very best of 2023., Opera-Wire writes
In 2019, Lucia Lucas made history becoming the first Trans singer to perform a leading role in America at the Tulsa Opera. She would later become the first Trans baritone to appear with the English National Opera and she even made her Metropolitan Opera. Fast forward to 2023 and Lucas continues to break glass ceilings.
This year in October the baritone made history by world premiering “Lili Elbe,” the first grand opera written about a historical person of trans experience for a singer of trans experience. The work, which was performed at the Theater St. Gallen and was later streamed worldwide on OperaVision, received rave reviews stating that it was “An emotionally charged masterpiece” and “Lucas not only makes Lili’s fate her own but allows her own fate to shine through.”
Lucas also made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut performing in the world premiere of “Proximity” and became the first transgender star to take a leading role on the Lyric stage. She also headlined “The World’s Wife” at the Barbican Centre to great acclaim with critics noting she had great authority.” Lucas is set to bring the work to the Netherlands in 2024.
And then there was the Metropolitan Opera, where Lucas was featured in a production of “Fedora” and was seen in the company’s Live in HD series for the first time.
Labels: 2023, imterviews, Lucia Lucas, Opera Wire, Top Opera Singers 2023, trans Opera Singer
