Lucia Lucas | |
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 Lucia Lucas (2019) | |
| Born | Lucia Lucas July 3, 1980 Sacramento, California, U.S. |
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Lucia Lucas (born July 3, 1980) is an American transgender baritone. [1] [2] On March 1, 2018, it was announced that she would become the first transgender person to perform a principal role on an American operatic stage. [3]
Lucas grew up in Sacramento, California. [4] 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 began her transition in November 2013. She began to take estrogen and antiandrogens in July 2014, and underwent facial feminization surgery in September. In 2016, she had gender reassignment surgery. [1]
On May 3, 2019, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Lucas starred in Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Tulsa Opera. [5] [6] The performance is the subject of the 2020 feature documentary The Sound of Identity, directed by James Kicklighter. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] 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. [12]
Lucas played Lili Elbe in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s new opera, Lili Elbe on October 22, 2023. [13]
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the Greek βαρύτονος (barýtonos), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (i.e. F2–F4) in choral music, and from the second G below middle C to the G above middle C (G2 to G4) in operatic music, but the range can extend at either end. Subtypes of baritone include the baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, Kavalierbariton, Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, baryton-noble baritone, and the bass-baritone.
Lili Ilse Elvenes, better known as Lili Elbe, was a Danish painter, transgender woman, and one of the earliest recipients of gender-affirming surgery.
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano known for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s to the 1980s.
The German Fach system is a method of classifying singers, primarily opera singers, according to the range, weight, and color of their voices. It is used worldwide, but primarily in Europe, especially in German-speaking countries and by repertory opera houses.
Mario Ancona, was a leading Italian baritone and master of bel canto singing. He appeared at some of the most important opera houses in Europe and America during what is commonly referred to as the "Golden Age of Opera".
Roberta Peters was an American coloratura soprano.
Gerda Marie Fredrikke Wegener was a Danish illustrator and painter. Wegener is known for her fashion illustrations and later her paintings that pushed the boundaries of her time concerning gender and love. These works were classified as lesbian erotica at times and many were inspired by her partner, transgender painter Lili Elbe. Wegener employed these works in the styles of Art Nouveau and later Art Deco.
Tobias Picker is an American composer, pianist, and conductor, noted for his orchestral works Old and Lost Rivers, Keys To The City, and The Encantadas, as well as his operas Emmeline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, An American Tragedy and Lili Elbe, among many other works.
Tenore di grazia, also called leggero tenor, is a lightweight, flexible tenor voice type. The tenor roles written in the early 19th-century Italian operas are invariably leggero tenor roles, especially those by Rossini such as Lindoro in L'italiana in Algeri, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, and Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia; and those by Bellini such as Gualtiero in Il pirata, Elvino in La sonnambula and Arturo in I puritani. Many Donizetti roles, such as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore and Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Tonio in La fille du régiment, are also tenore di grazia roles. One of the most famous leggero tenors of that period was Giovanni Battista Rubini, for whom Bellini wrote nearly all his operas.
Tulsa Opera is an American opera company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Originally an amateur performance group named the Tulsa Opera Club, the company was incorporated as a professional organization in 1953. Performances for the company were originally presented at the Tulsa Theater until the Tulsa Performing Arts Center (TPAC) opened in 1977. The company currently presents an annual season of three staged operas at the TPAC. Numerous well known singers have performed in operas with the company, including Beverly Sills, Anna Moffo, Roberta Peters, Richard Tucker, Renata Scotto, Cornell MacNeil, Samuel Ramey, Simon Estes, and Jerry Hadley among many others. In addition to staged operas, the company has also presented concerts and recitals featuring artists like Barbara Cook, Susan Graham, Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, and Joan Sutherland. Opera composer and pianist Tobias Picker served as the company's artistic director from 2016 through 2022. At present, the company is being led by general director and CEO Lori Decter Wright. Aaron Beck serves as its artistic director.
Gerald Hunter Finley, is a Canadian bass-baritone opera singer.
The Theater St. Gallen is a performing arts center for opera, musical, ballet, and theatre in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and considered to be the oldest professional theatre in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
James Kicklighter is an American film director, producer, and writer from Bellville, Georgia.
Asheville Lyric Opera (ALO) is a professional, non-profit opera company located in Asheville, North Carolina. Its repertoire encompasses styles ranging from the comedies of Mozart and Rossini to the classic Verdi and Puccini dramas as well as classic musical theatre works. Founder David Craig Starkey served as General and Artistic Director until 2016. The 500-seat Diana Wortham Theatre, built in 1991, has been the company's home since 2001. ALO is a member of Opera America. Dean Anthony was announced as the company's new Artistic and Producing Direction beginning with the 2019/2020 Season.
The Danish Girl is a 2015 biographical romantic drama film directed by Tom Hooper, based on the 2000 novel of the same title by David Ebershoff, and loosely inspired by the lives of Danish painters Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Elbe, one of the first known recipients of gender-affirming surgery, Alicia Vikander as Wegener, and Sebastian Koch as Kurt Warnekros, with Ben Whishaw, Amber Heard, and Matthias Schoenaerts in supporting roles.
Aryeh Lev Stollman is a writer and physician based in the United States. A neuroradiologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, he has also published several works of fiction.
Mario Basiola was an Italian operatic baritone.
Sandi Hammond is a Boston-based musician and business woman who founded Butterfly Music Transgender Chorus, the second all-transgender chorus in the country, in 2014. The first, the Transcendence Gospel Choir, was established in San Francisco in the early 2000s.
Lucas Bouk is an American opera singer and actor from Rochester, New York. He came out in 2018 as a trans man, and played his first role as an openly trans man in a jazz opera character written with him in mind. A play about his transitioning was staged in 2018, and revived in 2019. In June 2019, he became the first openly transgender opera singer in a featured role written for a transgender singer in Stonewall.
Lili Elbe is an opera in two acts composed by Tobias Picker, with a libretto by Aryeh Lev Stollman, starring Lucia Lucas as Lili Elbe. Based on the life of Lili Elbe and the book Man into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex, the opera premiered on 22 October 2023, and received "Best World Premiere" in the 2023 Oper! Awards.
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