Lucia Lucas (born July 3, 1980) is an American transgender

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

. She made history when, in March, 2018, it was announced that she would become the first transgender person to perform a principal role on an American operatic stage.

Biography

Lucas grew up in Sacramento, California. She studied horn and voice at California State University, Sacramento and then did graduate work at the Chicago College of Performing Arts. She moved to Germany in 2009. She decided to transition in November 2013, started taking estrogen and antiandrogens in July 2014 and underwent facial feminization surgery in September. In 2016, she had her gender reassignment surgery. The performance on May 3, 2019, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, saw Lucas playing the starring role in Mozart's ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'' with the Tulsa Opera. The performance is the subject of the 2020 feature documentary ''The Sound of Identity'', directed by

James Kicklighter James Kicklighter (born June 26, 1988) is an American film director, producer, and writer from Bellville, Georgia. Early life and education Kicklighter's hometown is in Bellville, Georgia. His father died from SARS when he was 12 years old ...

. Subsequently, Lucas became the first transgender baritone to appear with the English National Opera in London on 5 October 2019, playing Public Opinion in '' Orpheus in the Underworld'' at the London Coliseum. Lucas will play Lili Elbe in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s new opera, ''Lili Elbe''.

Personal life

Lucia Lucas married Ariana Lucas in 2009.

References

Living people American operatic baritones Musicians from Sacramento, California Transgender women musicians Transgender singers American LGBT singers American transgender musicians 21st-century American women opera singers Classical musicians from California Singers from California LGBT classical musicians 1980 births {{US-opera-singer-stub