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.

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 second performance in New York in 2022 with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble. A third production is being discussed for 2026 in Los Angeles.

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. It will be remounted by the company in 2025.

Lucero’s fourth opera, t o u c h, is about DeafBlind American writer and human rights activist, Helen Keller. The libretto is co-written with Marianna Mott Newirth and premiered in 2024 with Opera Birmingham. 

¡Chicanísima!, Lucero’s fifth opera, also premiered in 2024 at BRAVA Theater in San Francisco. It is about Latinx icon, Olga Talamante, and was commissioned and performed by Quinteto Latino. A Latin American tour is in the works for 2025 with Mexican opera company, EsceniaEnsamble.

She is currently commissioned to create three operas with Opera Paralléle, LA Opera and Hawaii Opera Theatre to premiere in 2025, 2026 and 2027, respectively.

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 Vos”, an aria from Juana. The recording will be released on Navona Records in 2025, along with a film of the same title, created by Carson Gilmore of Vox Visceralis.

In the beginning stages of development are the operas Muriel & Anita, a true crime opera based in Napa, California, where Lucero resides, as well as S.C.U.M., an opera/music drama about Valerie Solanas, the woman who shot Andy Warhol, libretto by Kate Walat.