About Lucila Zavala

Born in Bayamón, Lucila Zavala is a Puerto Rican soprano who graduated from the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and is currently pursuing her master's degree at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, under the tutelage of soprano and Grammy Award winner Ana María Martínez. Mrs. Zavala was the winner of the Puerto Rico district for two consecutive years and a national semifinalist in the “Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition” at the Metropolitan Opera House. She also received the “Education Fund Grant,” a scholarship awarded by Laffont from the Metropolitan Opera.

In addition to her achievements, Zavala will perform the role of Gossip and Revolutionary Women in the opera “The Ghosts of Versailles” this season at Rice. She has also portrayed Lucia in Britten's opera “The Rape of Lucretia” in CONCERT CAST, under the direction of Benjamin Manis, associate conductor of the Utah Symphony and former resident director at the Houston Grand Opera. Furthermore, she played Morgana in Handel's opera “Alcina” in CONCERT CAST, under the direction of international conductor Louis Lohraseb, who has conducted at venues such as the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Semperoper Dresden, Los Angeles Opera, and the Berlin Opera.

Lucila was part of the “Houston Grand Opera Young Artist Vocal Academy” in May 2023. In the same year, she participated as an emerging artist in the Seagle Festival, where she was a fellow debuting in the role of Juliette in Gounod's production of “Roméo et Juliette,” and as Sor Isabel in Crozier's “With Blood, With Ink.”