LGBTQ Opera Singers

Many of today's finest opera singers around the world are proud to be LGBTQ. They join a rich community of LGBTQ classical and opera composers that has spanned the generations, including Baron Benjamin Britten (noted for the opera 'Peter Grimes') and Maurice Ravel (noted for 'Daphne and Chloe').

These opera singers also lead fascinating lives. Two of the leading members of the New York Metropolitan Opera Company are partners, Patricia Racette and Beth Clayton. Spanish transgender opera singer Manuela Trasobares is also on her local town council. Counter-tenor David Daniels, considered to be the finest of his age, has convinced composers to write an opera specifically highlighting his talents, and based on the life story of Oscar Wilde.

Transgender opera singers have their own unique set of challenges, not least of which is the matching of their voice and tone to their gender and changes that can occur in their voice as they transition. Opera singers spend years of training for their voice, and they are wary of anything that can interrupt or alter that training and its output. The question a transgender opera singer must ask is - can a career as an opera singer co-exist with the desire to be one's true sexual gender? Some transgender opera singers have opted to retain their voice range with their transitioned gender. Transgender opera singers include Lucia Lucas, Liz Bouk, Breanna Sinclaire, Holden Madagame and Adrian Angelico.

LGBTQ opera singers hail from around the world, including New Zealand, Spain, Australia, Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Brazil, and the United States.

Read their individual profiles, which include links to videos of their outstanding performances:

Australia

Belgium