S9E5: Lucia Lucas

Lucia Lucas is a baritone who made her U.S. debut in 2019 at Tulsa Opera as Don Giovanni.

Lucas, who came out as trans without knowing whether she would be able to maintain her career, thinks that many more Americans would enjoy opera and has some thoughts about how to reach them:

Instead of trying to look broadly for audiences and how to appeal to everyone, I think that they would do well by looking at streaming services. Look at Netflix, look at Amazon Studios, look at Apple+, look at all of these independent studios making specialty projects that don‘t have to be for everyone. Your audience doesn‘t have to be the same audience that comes to every single show. But by doing that, you‘re going to get new audiences.

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If you enjoyed this conversation with Lucia, you might want to listen to Jessica’s and Ellen’s earlier conversation with Janelle Monáe

This season’s theme music is from Solar Echoes, by Nigel Stanford.

And a big thanks to this season’s sponsor, Mailchimp.

Lucia Lucas headshot by Josh New.

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By Jessica Helfand & Ellen McGirt

Jessica Helfand, a founding editor of Design Observer, is an award-winning graphic designer and writer and a former contributing editor and columnist for Print, Communications Arts and Eye magazines. A member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and a recent laureate of the Art Director’s Hall of Fame, Helfand received her B.A. and her M.F.A. from Yale University where she has taught since 1994.

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Ellen McGirt is an author, podcaster, speaker, community builder, and award-winning business journalist. She is the editor-in-chief of Design Observer, a media company that has maintained the same clear vision for more than two decades: to expand the definition of design in service of a better world. Ellen established the inclusive leadership beat at Fortune in 2016 with raceAhead, an award-winning newsletter on race, culture, and business. The Fortune, Time, Money, and Fast Company alumna has published over twenty magazine cover stories throughout her twenty-year career, exploring the people and ideas changing business for good. Ask her about fly fishing if you get the chance.