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DR. CARMEN ACEVEDO LUCÍO
CONDUCTOR
Dr. Carmen Acevedo Lucio is a distinguished Puerto Rican choral conductor, educator, and cultural leader whose work for more than four decades has played a central role in shaping the island’s choral tradition and projecting it internationally. Her career reflects an exceptional commitment to artistic excellence, education, and the promotion of Puerto Rican and Latin American choral music.
She began her choral journey in 1971 as a member of the world-renowned San Juan Children’s Choir, an experience that profoundly influenced her musical development. In 1980, she joined the Music Faculty of the University of Puerto Rico, where she continues to serve as professor of choral conducting. In this role, she has conducted the Coro de la Universidad de Puerto Rico and Coralia, the university’s select concert choir, while mentoring generations of singers and conductors who now hold leadership positions throughout Puerto Rico’s musical institutions.
Founder and artistic director of Coralia since 1982, Acevedo Lucio has guided the ensemble to international prominence through a distinctive artistic vision that combines technical rigor, stylistic versatility, and a strong
commitment to Latin American and Puerto Rican repertoire. Under her leadership, Coralia has earned top honors at major international choral competitions and festivals, including the Florilège Vocal de Tours in France, part of the prestigious European Grand Prix for Choral Singing. Her ensembles have traveled extensively to festivals and competitions throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North America, with appearances in countries such as Ireland, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Japan, Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela and the United States.
In 1987, she founded the San Juan Philhamonic Chorale (Coral Filarmónica de San Juan), through which she has prepared and performed major choral-symphonic works in collaboration with leading orchestras and some of the world’s most renowned conductors, including Mstislav Rostropovich, Krzysztof Penderecki, Helmuth Rilling, Yoav Talmi, Guillermo Figueroa, Maximiano Valdés, and Gustavo Dudamel. Her work also includes the preparation of choruses for opera productions and concerts featuring internationally acclaimed singers such as Plácido Domingo, Roberto Alagna, and Juan Diego Flórez. In 1999, Maestro Plácido Domingo selected her to serve on the international jury of Operalia, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Acevedo Lucio holds a master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati and completed doctoral studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In recognition of her outstanding artistic and educational contributions, she received an honorary doctorate from Universidad Carlos Albizu in 2004 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Puerto Rico in 2022.
Frequently invited as a juror, clinician, and lecturer, Carmen Acevedo Lucio remains an active and respected presence in the international choral community. Through performance, mentorship, and advocacy, she continues to affirm choral music as a vital artistic expression and a powerful voice of cultural identity.
