Lucia Lucas is coming to Carolina Performing Arts in February

In opera, the role of the villain often falls to the baritone. Their villainy comes in many forms: murder, rape, manipulation, scheming, deception, theft, and on and on. These characters are often the primary source of conflict in an opera and the hub around which the action revolves. Occasionally, they are the protagonist, and, often, the most interesting person on stage. 

On February 1, groundbreaking female baritone Lucia Lucas comes to Carolina Performing Arts to perform a program built around her favorite villainous roles, accompanied by pianist Clara Yang.This past May, Lucas had her American debut as Don Giovanni at Tulsa Opera to much acclaim, not merely because she was the first transgender opera singer to sing a leading role at a major US opera house: the Tulsa World raved that Lucas was “nothing short of a revelation.” 

Say Lucas, “Villains are best received when we have some connection to them or some reason to empathize, at least, with why they have ended up to be so evil.” She continues, “[TV’s] Dexter comes to mind as someone we shouldn’t like, but we can’t help but want to know where he is going. If a character is just evil, then we don’t join them on their journey.” It is that complication that draws Lucas to villains, and it is on full display during this recital. It also doesn’t hurt that, as a dramatic baritone, most of her roles on stage are villains. 

Lucas, who is hailed as “one of the most powerful and beautiful baritone voices you could hear” (The Side Balcony) describes this program for Carolina Performing Arts as a collection of songs villains sing. “I looked for songs of villains being people and having emotions outside of doing evil, being evil,” she says. Taken as a whole, the performance shows just how many shades of gray there are within every character and human, villain or not. 

UNC students get $10 tickets with a valid OneCard and UNC faculty/staff get 15% off tickets.