Lucia Lucas will have her American operatic debut as the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni for the Tulsa Opera's upcoming season.
This will be Lucas' American debut; she has performed mostly in Europe, as a permanent member of the Staatstheatre Karlsruhe in Germany.
Artistic director Tobias Picker said in a statement that Tulsa Opera's 71st annual season will be a testament to the company's commitment to casting without regard to ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
Lucia Lucas’ appearance here will mark the first time a trans woman has performed a principal role on the operatic stage in the United States. In the coming season we will also bring home artists whose stars rose in Tulsa and now shine throughout the world.
In addition to Lucas, who has been described by one critic as “…absolutely impressive, arguably one of the most powerful and beautiful baritone voices you could hear,” the cast will feature current Tulsa Opera Studio Artist Karlye Whitt, making her debut as Donna Anna, Christine Taylor Price as Zerlina, and Pamela Armstrong as Donna Elvira.
Uruguayan conductor Andrés Cladera will conduct the production, directed by Denni Sayers, who was stage director for Tulsa Opera's recent production of "The Pearl Fishers."
In one way, this is exciting. But in another way, I hope it’s not too exciting. I just want to keep doing my job in how I’ve always done it.
--Lucas
The 37-year-old baritone has performed internationally as Figaro in Marriage of Figaro, For in Falstaff, and Fasolt in Das Rheingold.
People don’t really care about if people are gay in most of the Western world, and I hope in the future being trans is something like that as well.
--Lucas
Born in Sacramento, California, Lucas came out as transgender in May 2014 while living in Karlsruhe, Germany, where she still resides. She said her doctor in Germany wouldn’t let her have access to hormones until she came out publicly.
I was told I was one of the boys, but I knew I didn’t really belong there. So much of my life was trying to figure out how to be part of this group that I never ever really felt a part of, as soon as I knew that group existed.
I had this unrealistic expectation that at puberty my brain knew what to do, and my brain would tell my body what to do.
--Lucas
By the time she reached her undergraduate college years, she thought about coming out as trans. She was living in California and would sometimes wear dresses to class, though many assumed she was just being "artsy," she said.
It was around this time that she met her girlfriend, who is now her wife, and she soon developed the desire to live the quintessential traditional life: get married, have a house, kids and a dog.
I thought, 'I can do this.' I found this person who I really, really like, and I could see myself being with this person for the rest of my life. I don’t think anybody ever sets out to deceive anybody else. They just think that they actually can do it, that they can cope with it and live their life like that, whether it’s being trans or being gay.
--Lucas
When she finally told her boss, the head of Germany's Badisches Staatstheater opera house, about her intention to transition, he asked which other opera performers had done something similar. She said no one.
If my voice did rise because of it, that would be fantastic, because that would be easier for me, because as it is, I end up playing a lot of men on stage, still. Opera is a very, very specific form, and I can’t just easily sing up at the top of my register.
--Lucas