Meet the Composer: Carla Lucero
- Adminstration Admin
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
The woman behind ¡Chicanísima! — June 27 at MACLA, San José
A Composer Who Follows the Story
What inspires Carla Lucero are stories that at their core have some message of social justice — particularly stories that center around strong women who break the mold, who fight to make a better world for the women who come after them. That philosophy has driven one of the most distinctive careers in contemporary American opera. HipLatina
According to her official biography at Navona Records, Lucero is of New Mexican and South Asian descent, originally from Manhattan Beach, California, and now resides in Napa. Her compositional style has been described as complex and highly melodic, drawing on the Romantic and Neo-Classical periods, as well as Flamenco music. She is recognized for incorporating period instruments and indigenous percussion into her orchestration. Fiveable
A Body of Work Unlike Any Other
As her own website documents, after college Lucero spent years in Los Angeles as Director of Music at Hal Roach Studios, composing for dance and independent films. Her deep love of opera and counterculture eventually drew her to San Francisco, where her first opera, WUORNOS — about Aileen Wuornos, known as America's first female serial killer — premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. U.S. National Archives
What followed was a body of work that consistently centers women whose stories have been overlooked or erased. As detailed on her Subito Music page, her second opera, Juana, with co-librettist Alicia Gaspar de Alba, premiered in 2019 with Opera UCLA — a Spanish language opera about 17th century Mexican feminist icon Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz — winning a place in the LA Times' "12 Best of Fall." Her third opera, Las Tres Mujeres de Jerusalén, was commissioned by LA Opera and premiered in 2022. Her fourth opera, touch, is about DeafBlind American writer and human rights activist Helen Keller. operacultura
Navona Records also notes that she currently has three operas in development — Hello, Star for Opera Parallèle, The Tower of Babel for LA Opera in 2026, and Tea for Hawaii Opera Theatre in 2027. operacultura
🎬 Watch: Carla Lucero
¡Chicanísima! — The Fifth Opera
As documented on her Subito Music page, ¡Chicanísima! is Carla Lucero's fifth opera, premiering in 2024 at BRAVA Theater in San Francisco, commissioned and performed by Quinteto Latino. The opera tells the story of Chicana and LGBTQ+ activist Olga Talamante — from the garlic fields of Gilroy to her imprisonment in Argentina, to her return home unbroken. operacultura
In a recent and rare conversation, Carla sits down with Olga Talamante herself to discuss what it meant to set a living person's extraordinary story to music — and what they both hope audiences take away from the June 27 performances.
¡Chicanísima! performs on Saturday, June 27 at MACLA, 510 S 1st St, San José — with two performances at 12:00 PM and 5:30 PM. Tickets are choose-your-price, starting at $10.
⭐ Stay after the 5:30 PM performance for a post-show Q&A with Carla Lucero, Olga Talamante, and Armando Castellano, founder of Quinteto Latino.
Come hear where her work has been leading all along.
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