It was a twist of fate, of sorts, that led to “Touch,” the opera about Helen Keller, having its world premiere performed by Opera Birmingham, beginning Friday.

Composer and librettist Carla Lucero pitched her idea for the opera at a conference in San Francisco in 2019, and Eleanor Walter, Opera Birmingham’s marketing director, happened to be there.

“(She) approached me after a pitch session and told me she was from Tuscumbia, Helen’s birthplace,” Lucero recalls. “I couldn’t believe it. This is how and where my connection with the company began. About a year later, I was commissioned as composer and librettist. A few months after that, I subcontracted Marianna Mott Newirth to become my co-librettist.”

And that all led to “Touch,” which has its world premiere, presented by Opera Birmingham, Friday and Sunday at Red Mountain Theatre Company. The cast includes Birmingham actors Alie B. Gorrie and Caleb Clark as Helen Keller and John Macy (Anne Sullivan’s husband), as well as visiting professionals Michelle Allie Drever as Anne Sullivan Macy, Catherine Goode providing Helen’s voice and Patrick Bessenbacher as journalist Peter Fagan. The opera also features the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.

Carla Lucero, composer of “Touch.”

For Lucero, who is from Los Angeles, “Touch” was a long time coming.

“I was obsessed with Helen Keller as a child,” she says of the Alabama icon who, though deaf and blind, became a celebrated lecturer, author and activist. “Somehow, I knew I would create something musical about her.”

Marketing material for “Touch” says it picks up where “The Miracle Worker” leaves off, referring to William Gibson’s play-turned-movie about Keller and her early years with teacher Sullivan at home in Tuscumbia. Among other things, the opera explores Keller’s advocacy for women’s suffrage, civil rights and disability rights, as well as her often complicated relationship with Sullivan.

“Their relationship was sometimes teacher-student, mother-daughter, best friends and sometimes heartbreaking, as is the case in codependent relationships,” Lucero says. “There was always the struggle between wanting independence and then fearing it.”

All of that and more is explored by Lucero and Newirth.

“I already had a first draft of Act I, but once Marianna was on board, she really jumped into lots of rabbit holes and came up with gold,” Lucero says of her co-librettist. “Her research was priceless and helped us to find enormous depth in Helen’s story.”

Lucero knew early on in the process that Keller was going to need a voice in “Touch,” so while Gorrie portrays her as an actress, Goode provides her vocals.

“I gave her a choir to express her communication with people and for her inner thoughts,” Lucero says. “Having a choir to voice these ideas gave me the opportunity to have both the communicating and the inner thoughts happen simultaneously. She was a very complex individual, so this method works well.” (Interestingly, Lucero says Helen’s theme in “Touch” is made up of the pitches D-E-A-F).

The Opera Birmingham production of “Touch” will include a number of accessible features, including American Sign Language, Braille program notes, assisted descriptive listening services, on-stage protactile stage direction and supertitles.

Lucero is confident “Touch” will have life after Birmingham.

“We are certain that ‘Touch’ will have a long and profound life after the premiere in Birmingham,” she says. “We already have an investor for a production in New York, so we are exploring our options now. We would love for it to be everywhere, as it will be enlightening and empowering for so many.”