Grammy Award-winning mezzo soprano Lucy Schaufer is voracious and versatile in her choice of repertoire.
Lucy’s career takes her to theatres and concert halls throughout the world: recent engagements include HORTENSE The Listeners Opera Philadelphia (North American premiere), KLEONIKE Lysistrata (world premiere recording) Boston Modern Opera Orchestra, MARCELLINA Le Nozze di Figaro Palm Beach Opera, HELENE Marx in London! Scottish Opera (UK premiere), MISTRESS QUICKLY Sir John in Love BARD Summer Fest, GOVERNESS Pique Dame Grange Festival, MARGRET Wozzeck Opéra de Monte-Carlo, WOMAN in The Blue Woman Royal Opera House, DOCTOR in Venables’s Olivier Award nominated 4.48 Psychosis Royal Opera House, PROTOTYPE Festival and Ensemble Intercontemporain, POLYCASTE Raising Icarus BCMG (world premiere), MADELEINE Three Decembers Opera della Luna at Wilton’s Music Hall (UK premiere), ANNE To Hell and Back Opera Faber at the Festeixo (European premiere), MRS JONES Street Scene Opéra de Monte-Carlo and Teatro Real Madrid, MRS LOVETT Sweeney Todd Des Moines Metro Opera, and she was the Artistic Producer for the UK premiere of Adamo’s Little Women Opera Holland Park as well as singing Cecilia March.
Musical Theatre credits include MARGARET JOHNSON in the European premiere of The Light in the Piazza CURVE/Leicester; Soloist with the John Wilson Orchestra at the BBC Proms - Bernstein: Stage and Screen BBCRadio3/BBC4 Television; ALDONZA The Man of La Mancha Central City Opera; MOTHER ABBESS The Sound of Music CURVE/Leicester; RUTH Comrade Rockstar (world premiere recording SimG); BARONESS SCHRAEDER The Sound of Music Central City Opera; CLARE DE LOONE On the Town English National Opera; Théatre du Châtelet; EMILIA The Firebrand of Florence Barbican/BBC Symphony Orchestra - CD; JOHANNA Sweeney Todd Opera North; One Touch of Venus and Lady in the Dark ENCORES! New York; Miss Hyde Very Warm for May (Carnegie Hall/McGlynn) and PBS Great Performances: Ira Gershwin at 100 – A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (PBS Television/Rob Fisher)
Directing credit Lucy directed Side by Side by Sondheim at The Byre Theatre in St Andrews, Scotland, with the creative team of Jason Carr (music director), Isobel Nicholson (set and costume design), Andrea Scott (video design), and Benny Goodman (lighting design).
Opera Companies include Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera, Central City Opera, New Zealand Opera, Opéra National du Rhin, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Hamburg State Opera, Oper Köln, Opéra de Lyon, Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, Royal Opera House, Scottish Opera, Garsington Opera, Grange Festival, and English National Opera. In concert: London Sinfonietta, Britten Sinfonia, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, BBC Scottish Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestar Simfonica de Barcelona, Ensemble intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Gűrzenich Orchester, and the John Wilson Orchestra at the BBC Proms, and in solo recitals include at New York Festival of Song, Moab Music Festival, Wigmore Hall, Ravinia Festival, Library of Congress, Buxton International Festival, and Aldeburgh Festival.
Recordings include Corigliano The Ghosts of Versailles - Susanna (LA Opera/Conlon/Best Opera Recording 2017), Adamo Becoming Santa Claus - Ib (Dallas Opera/Villaume/world premiere), Bray Fire Burning in Snow (NMC Recordings/BCMG/world premiere), Cutler Sonata for Broken Fingers - Denisova (Birmingham Record Company/BCMG/world premiere), MUSAE on Zoë Martlew debut disc ALBUM Z (NMC Recordings/Wild Plum Songbook), Stephen Barber Marbles (Astral Vinyl/Navona Records), Weill The Firebrand of Florence - Emilia (BBCSO/Sir Andrew Davies), Ira Gershwin at 100: Celebration at Carnegie Hall (PBS/Rob Fisher), Der Rosenkavalier - Octavian (ARTE/Young) and Bowles The Wind Remains - The Girl (BMG/EOS Ensemble/Sheffer). Co-produced with ABC Classics, Lucy’s debut solo recording, CARPENTERSVILLE, was the Editor’s Choice in Classical Music Magazine.
Educator & Mentor Lucy created a new course called Voice and Body Integration for the masters program Stagecraft provision at the Royal College of Music, London, and taught the course from 2008 until 2021. Lucy accepted the Bunyan-Craig Visiting Fellow of Singing at the University of St Andrews and taught at the Laidlaw Music Centre from 2021-2025. Lucy was the drama coach for the Washington National Opera from 2003-2006, a visiting professor for the Butler Opera Center at the University of Texas at Austin and The Western Australian Academy for the Performing Arts (WAAPA) in Perth. In 2024, Lucy curated a masterclass at the Wigmore Hall on Contemporary Classical Song with Lana Bode (pianist) including repertoire from John Corigliano, Judith Weir, Zoë Martlew, Conor Mitchell, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Libby Larsen, Huw Watkins, and Master of the King’s Music Errollyn Wallen.
With over 75 world premieres under her belt, she dedicates her career to performing and collaborating with composers, leading Gramophone Magazine to say "She occupies an undefinable space in the 'who's who' of classical music." Lucy was shortlisted for the 2023 Royal Philharmonic Society Singer of the Year and was a member of the 2020 Beth Morrison Projects Producer’s Academy. She and Christopher Gillett established Wild Plum Arts in 2018, and have commissioned over 30 works for the Wild Plum Songbook, and created the first “think space” artists residency in the UK, in partnership with Sarah Bardwell at Britten Pears Arts, called Made At The Red House. During the period of 2019-2022, Wild Plum Arts supported over 50 creatives. She is a mentor, creative producer, and Artistic Director of Wild Plum Arts.
Current commission project: Wild Plum Arts is the funding commissioner of new texts by four writers (to be announced) for Tarik O’Regan’s A Critical Mass, a humanist mass, using the Agnus Dei written for the Coronation of King Charles III as its core. In collaboration with the Wimbledon Choral Society and Pacific Chorale, Costa Mesa, California. World premiere Cadogan Hall, London, April 2026.
Tarik O’Regan described this new commission as “elevating the liturgical form into a poignant meditation on humanity’s responsibilities and aspirations.” He added: “I want to merge the solemnity of tradition with a vibrant, forward-looking energy, challenging and inspiring listeners to engage with the world in a spirit of hope and action.”
Portraits ©Clare Park Photography
Sara Raeburn Make Up 2025
Photo of recording session at Real World
©Robin Clewley Photography 2023
Lucy is currently performing MARCELLINA in a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro by Laurent Pelly, conducted by Harry Bicket at the Santa Fe Opera Festival.
One standout was mezzo-soprano Lucy Schaufer’s Marcellina who stole every scene she was in. She and bass-baritone Maurizio Muraro as Doctor Bartolo created vivid characters - among the most distinctive I have seen in these roles. Seen and Heard International August, 2025
L - R: Riccardo Fassi (Figaro), Liv Redpath (Susanna) Lucy Schaufer (Marcellina), Maurizio Muraro (Bartolo),
📷 ©Bronwen Sharp 2025 for the Santa Fe Opera
In the tradition of Nixon in China or The Death of Klinghoffer, Mrs T has the potential to become a landmark work — one that enters the cultural conversation and endures.
This is a story Britain has long struggled to confront.
Now is the moment to tell it — with the depth, artistry, and seriousness it deserves.
Lucy will perform the title role in the world premiere musical drama on the life of Margaret Thatcher, MRS T, by composer Joseph Phibbs and librettist and historian Dominic Sandbrook (The Rest is History) Industry showing planned for London, 2026.
2024 is full of firsts - here are some highlights:
including UK premiere and my debut with Scottish Opera in Jonathan Dove’s MARX IN LONDON! (gorgeously rich-toned - The Scotsman), mentoring young artists on contemporary classical song repertoire in my first Wigmore Hall Masterclass, my directorial debut at The Byre Theatre, SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM, with musical director, Jason Carr, and the world premiere of Joe Cutler and Max Hoehn’s SONATA FOR BROKEN FINGERS with BCMG, recorded for Birmingham Record Company - and to start 2024-25, I’m headed back to OperaPhiladelphia for the U.S. premiere of Mizzy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s THE LISTENERS.
Performances for Summer 2023
The Charleston Festival - Tell Me The Truth About Love
18 May, 12:30pm Music of Benjamin Britten and Conor Mitchell, with Lucy, James Gilchrist, Christopher Glynn, and Simon Russell Beale. Featuring Auden’s poetry, Britten and Mitchell’s Cabaret Songs and Mitchell’s Wild Plum Songbook commission Look Both Ways, the first settings of Britten and Pears’s letters.
To listen to Conor talk about his song cycle, and the commission, watch the lovely film commissioned by WPA and presented by Dr Lucy Walker.
The Grange Festival - Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades
23, 25, 29 June, 2 July Paul Curran, director, Paul Daniel, conductor Governess, and covering the Countess (Josephine Barstow)
Below with Stephen Barber at Real World - giving it all up to the gods of music!
@robinclewleyphotography
An incredible three days recording new songs by the eclectic and inventive composer Stephen Barber at Real World Studios, in Wiltshire in March 2023. I’m loving producing and directing these projects - magic!
The Ride in the Helium Balloon and KHABIR will both be included in the Wild Plum Songbook.
Season 2022 Highlights included two world premieres and two UK premieres. I was the first Artist Producer for a UK opera company (Opera Holland Park’s production of Mark Adamo’s Little Women, in which I also sang Cecilia March.) Lots of photos below.
I was short-listed for the Royal Philharmonic Society Singer of the Year 2023. Lana Bode and I performed live in the BBC Radio 3 InTune studio - and I talked all things new music, sang songs by Herschel Garfein, Lisa Robertson, and Amanda McBroom. I emphasised the importance of the role of the artistic producer, and the importance of the creative “think space” residency. And I reminded us all to hold fast to promises we made each other during lockdown and to focus on the changes and battles we have ahead. We are all too aware of what those are.
Oh, ok, and I surprised Sean Rafferty with a jar of Wild Plum Jam. Nothing if not on brand!
Cecilia March, UK Premiere of Adamo's "Little Women" Opera Holland Park ©Ali Wright
Wild Plum Songbook Recording at The Stapleford Granary ©Dan Welldon
Maddy, UK premiere of Heggie/Scheer's "Three Decembers" Opera della Luna ©Lidia Crisafulli
Mrs Cripps (Buttercup) HMS Pinafore Charles Court Opera/Opera Holland Park ©Ali Wright
Woman 3, World Premiere of Bowler/Lomas's "The Blue Woman" ROH - Linbury Theatre ©Camilla Greenwell
Polycaste, World Premiere of Gordon/Plaice's "Raising Icarus" Barber Opera - BCMG ©Matthew Williams-Ellis
Mrs Lovett, Sweeney Todd, Des Moines Metro Opera ©Duane Tinkey