Music Director/Conductor, Mary Chun working with the Juana chamber orchestra. Photo by Taso Papadakis
The women in my operas are not one-dimensional characters, waiting to be saved by their knights in shining armor. They are the knights in shining armor, however flawed or brilliant.
¡Chicanísima! is an opera tribute celebrating the life of Chicanx/LGBTQ+ Icon and Activist, Olga Talamante. ¡Chicanísima!, commissioned by Quinteto Latino, premiered at Brava Theater in San Francisco May 16th, 2024.
Excerpts from the Premiere
‘touch’ is an opera about the radical life of Helen Keller. Commissioned by Opera Birmingham, it premiered January 19, 2024.
Las Tres Mujeres de Jerusalén (The Three Women of Jerusalem) is a Spanish language work commissioned by LA Opera. It is based on The Passion seen through the eyes of the three women Jesus meets at the Eighth Station of the Cross. It premiered March 19, 2022 under the baton of Maestro James Conlon, at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles. Stage Direction by Eli Villanueva. Spanish translation of the libretto by Dr. Rita Urquijo-Ruiz.
Principal Cast: Maria Elena Altany, Ashley Faatoalia, Gabriela Flores, Alaysha Fox, Michael J. Hawk, Jacob Ingbar and Peabody Southwell.
'Juana' is a Spanish language chamber opera about the great Mexican poet, nun and feminist icon, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Music by Carla Lucero and libretto by Alicia Gaspar de Alba and Carla Lucero. 'Juana' is based on the book Sor Juana's Second Dream by Alicia Gaspar de Alba. The world premiere was November 2019 in Los Angeles with Opera UCLA. The East Coast premiere was in Summer 2022 with dell'Arte Opera Ensemble in New York. Music Director, Mary Chun and Stage Direction by Sara E. Widzer.
WUORNOS is a grand opera about “America’s first female serial killer”, Aileen Wuornos, which premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, winning “10 Best of Stage” from The Advocate and OUT magazines.
Music Director, Mary Chun and Stage Direction by Joseph Graves.
The Everywhere of Her - an educational music drama with book and lyrics by Velina Hasu Houston and music by Carla Lucero, was commissioned and produced by The Ebell of Los Angeles and premiered March 2023 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.
Navona Records releases Piano Spectrums, a compilation of solo piano works including pieces from my first opera, WUORNOS!
The collection of pieces is brilliantly interpreted by Anna Kislitsyna, who performed my work and the work of nine other composers at Carnegie Hall on June 24, 2022.
To learn more about this recording please click this link: https://bit.ly/PIANOSPECTRUMS
For tickets to attend the Carnegie Hall performance in June, please click here: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2022/06/24/Anna-Kislitsyna-Piano-0800PM
I was fortunate enough to study with the late, great film composer, Leonard Rosenman -East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, Sybil - while studying composition at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). After graduating in 1986, there were few opportunities for young women like me in Hollywood, so I ran into the arms of my other love, opera. Now, as studios have finally cracked their doors open for women composers, I am eager to step into this new realm of possibilities and bring with me the passion and conviction that has fueled my career in the opera world.
A new compelling and provocative ballet by Marika Brussel, music by Carla Lucero.
Heidi Duckler Dance’s Reckoning Ramona is a retelling of the Ramona legend through the lens of Ramona reclaiming and embracing her own Indigenous heritage. This compelling dance film premiered in 2021.
Liquid Assets, a production of Heidi Duckler Dance (2000) performed in the California Plaza Courtyard in Downtown Los Angeles. It examines the price of greed at the expense of everything else.
Copyright © 2023 Carla Lucero - All Rights Reserved.