Originally from Los Angeles, Carla Lucero studied composition at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) with composers Rand Steiger, Morton Subotnick and Leonard Rosenman.
Lucero’s first opera, WUORNOS, about Aileen Wuornos, America’s first female serial killer, premiered in San Francisco in 2001, winning “10 Best of Stage” from The Advocate and OUT magazines. She also was awarded a Creative Work Fund grant from the Walter and Elise Haas Fund for the creation of the opera.
Her second opera, Juana, with co-librettist Alicia Gaspar de Alba, premiered in 2019 with Opera UCLA, winning a place in the “12 Best of Fall” by the LA Times. Juana, a Spanish language opera about 17th century Mexican feminist icon, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, had its New York premiere in 2022 with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble. Lucero received OPERA America’s Discovery Grant for Juana.
Her third opera, Las Tres Mujeres de Jerusalén (The Three Women of Jerusalem), a Spanish language opera based on The Passion, was commissioned by LA Opera and premiered in 2022.
Lucero’s fourth opera, TOUCH, is about DeafBlind American writer and human rights activist, Helen Keller. The libretto is co-written with Marianna Mott Newirth and premieres in 2024 with Opera Birmingham. Lucero received the 2022 Women Composers Commissioning Grant from OPERA America for the work.
She is currently commissioned to create four operas: ¡Chicanísima!, commissioned by Quinteto Latino, premiering 2024 in San Francisco; The Tower of Babel, a second commission by LA Opera, premiering 2025 in Los Angeles - (Lucero also received her second OPERA America Women Composers Commissioning Grant for The Tower of Babel); Hello, Star, (Jarrod Lee, librettist), commissioned by Opera Paralléle, premiering 2026 in San Francisco; and Tea, commissioned by Hawai’i Opera Theatre, (Velina Hasu Houston, librettist), to premiere 2027 in Honolulu.
In March 2024, The Wilshire Ebell Theatre of Los Angeles will remount The Everywhere of Her, a children’s musical drama created with Velina Hasu Houston, originally commissioned and produced by The Ebell in 2023.
For three decades, Carla Lucero has also continued to compose music for dance and for music-driven films. She recently collaborated in Prague with soprano Michelle Allie Drever to record “Sin Voz,” an aria from Juana. The recording will be released on Navona Records in 2024, along with a film of the same title, created by Carson Gilmore of Vox Visceralis.
For more information, visit carlalucero.com.