Born into a musical family in Bayreuth, he studied at the Hochschule der Kuenste Berlin with the celebrated teachers Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Aribert Reimann and Hans Hotter. Early success came in 1991 when he was awarded first prize at the International Vocal Competition s’Hertogenbosch. 

After first experiences at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where his roles included Papageno (Die Zauberfloete), Leporello (Don Giovanni) or Paolo Albiani (Simon Boccanegra), Ralf Lukas’ voice developed increasingly with parts like Heerrufer (Lohengrin), Wolfram (Tannhaeuser) and Amfortas (Parsifal), up to the Flying Dutchman in Katharina Wagner’s well documented first production of “Der fliegende Hollaender“. Wotan and Wanderer (The Ring of the Nibelung), performed regularly at Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Staatstheater Darmstadt, Cologne, Rome, Riga, Macau and others, marked his first professional and vocal peak. 

From 2006 till 2012 he appeared annually at the Bayreuth Festival, performing the roles of Donner (Das Rheingold), Gunther (Twilight of the Gods) and Melot (Tristan and Isolde). In 2008 he made his long awaited debut in the role of Hans Sachs (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) at the 

Staatstheater Darmstadt to great critical acclaim. 

In 2010 for the New National Theatre Tokyo he sang his first Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten.  More recent appearances include Donner (Das Rheingold) at the Liceu Barcelona, the role of Dutchman at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Dusseldorf and Hans Sachs at the Staatsoper Hanover.  In 2012/13  he made his successful debuts as Wozzeck and Kurwenal in Tristan and Isolde, followed by Dr Schön/Jack the Ripper in Alban Berg’s Lulu at the Royal Danish Opera Copenhagen in 2014, Detlev Glanert’s Caligula at the Staatsoper Hanover, another production of Hans Sachs (The Mastersingers) at the National Opera Helsinki and Don Alfonso in Cosi Fan Tutte at Munich’s Cuvilliés Theatre in 2015. At the Staatsoper Berlin he performed Emil Jannings in O. Strasnoy’s opera Comeback (World premiere 2016),  at the Bayerische Staatsoper and in Tokyo he joined the cast for Tannhaeuser under Kirill Petrenko’s baton in 2017. In October 2021 he jumped in as Beckmesser (The Mastersingers) at Leipzig Opera, in March 2022 he sang Amfortas in the premiere of “Parsifal“ at Linz Opera. He debuted in May 2022 singing Musiklehrer in Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos“ and Bluebeard in Bartok’s opera under Patrick Hahn’s baton. In February 2024 Ralf Lukas was the highly acclaimed Wanderer in Siegfried with Regents Opera London, where he will return 2025 for the whole Ring. His debut as Don Magnifico in Rossini’s Cenerentola will be in March 2025.

Ralf Lukas sang with some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras and conductors including Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Colin Davis, Armin Jordan, Philippe Jordan, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, Sir Roger Norrington, Seiji Ozawa, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Christian Thielemann and Kirill Petrenko. 

Also highly sought after as a concert singer, with a stylistically wide repertoire, he appears regularly in the major concert venues of the world including Berlin, Brussels, Hamburg, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo and Vienna, and has participated at the festivals of Montpellier,  Lucerne, Rheingau, Schleswig-Holstein and the BBC London Proms. He has taken part in numerous radio and television recordings for ZDF, SFB, MDR, BR, Radio France, RAI, RTE and has recorded many CDs including Brahms’ “Die schoene Magelone“, Schubert’s „Winterreise“, Schoenberg’s “Gurrelieder“ under the baton of Michael Gielen, Berlioz’ “L’Enfance du Christ“ (King Herod) and “Benvenuto Cellini“ (Pope Clément) under Sir Roger Norrington and Mendelssohn’s “Elijah“ for MDR. The Bayreuth Wagner Festival’s production of “The Ring of the Nibelung“ under Christian Thielemann was recorded in 2009 (Donner and Gunther). A recording of Othmar Schoeck’s Cantata op. 49 under Mario Venzago was awarded a Diapason d’Or in 2007; and Liszt’s “Christus“ (title role) with the Beethoven Orchestra under Roman Kofman gained an Echo Prize in 2007.  Appearances on DVD include Haydn’s „The Seasons“ conducted by Enoch zu Guttenberg, Das Rheingold (Donner) from the Liceu Barcelona, Götterdämmerung (Gunther) with La Fura dels Baus under Zubin Mehta from Valencia and Schoenberg’s „Moses und Aron“ under Philippe Jordan from the Opéra National de Paris.