Get a preview of Lucidity, the new opera about music, memory loss, and human connection

Lucidity, the new chamber opera from composer Laura Kaminsky and librettist David Cote, opened this week at On Site Opera in New York City and arrives in Seattle one week later. The opera explores the connections between music and memory loss by following the entangled lives of four musicians at different stages of their lives and careers.

In conjunction with Lucidity’s premiere, NPR and The New York Times each sat down with the opera’s creators and performers to learn more about how this trenchant new work came to be.

Photo: Bowie Dunwoody

NPR: “In a new opera, a life in music and a struggle with memory loss intertwine”

Librettist David Cote initially approached [composer Laura] Kaminsky in 2014 after seeing a production of As One at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. "I thought, 'Laura has a beautiful compositional voice'," Cote recalled, "and As One was a very lyrical, concise and direct emotional expression of opera that I wanted to be a part of." Kaminsky added, "I didn't really know him and his work, but then, in 2015, I saw his opera The Scarlet Ibis [composed by Stefan Weisman] and I thought that the storytelling was evocative and compelling."

It took time for the pair to arrive at the story that would become Lucidity. "David came to me with multiple ideas for grand operas," Kaminsky explained, "but creatively, I live in a very intimate world." Kaminsky's operas usually feature small casts, a handful of instruments and relatable stories that invite the audience into the narrative. As she explained, "For me, the idea of a personal story was crucial — if David and I couldn't get there, we weren't going to work together." The duo found the seed for Lucidity's plot in their shared grief, as Cote and Kaminsky both lost loved ones to extended illnesses around the time their collaboration began. "As we developed Lucidity, it became clearer that we were really drawing on our personal histories," Cote said. "Laura, with her father, who had dementia, and I, as caregiver to my wife in her final few months."

From this experience, they created a piece that deals with the sacrifices and sensitivities that emerge from the conflict between caring for one's family and pursuing one's dreams. This theme comes to a head for each character in different ways. Lili and Dante argue over his decision to abandon piano performance to take care of his mother. Sunny fights with her parents over her choice to work as a musician. And Dr. Klugman, an old music school classmate of Dante's, confronts the emotional fallout of her choice to pursue science over singing.

Soprano Lucy Shelton stars as Lili in Lucidity. Photo: Karjaka Studios.

The New York Times: “At 80, a Concert Singer Finds Herself a Hot Commodity in Opera”

On Thursday, [Lucy] Shelton, 80, takes center stage at the Abrons Arts Center in the world premiere of “Lucidity,” an opera about identity and dementia, composed by Laura Kaminsky, with a libretto by David Cote. With a score that calls for a multitude of expressive registers, including floated lyricism and sprechstimme, musically notated recitation, the work is tailored to Shelton’s undiminished dramatic strengths. It’s also a testament to her continuing dedication to her craft. (From New York, where the production is presented by On Site Opera, it travels to Seattle Opera.)

After five decades making her name primarily on the concert scene, Shelton finds her engagement calendar increasingly filled with opera. In 2021, she performed in the critically acclaimed premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s “Innocence” in Aix-en-Provence, France. Next season, she will reprise the role at the Metropolitan Opera, making her house debut at 82. “It’s kind of a riot,” she said. “It probably thrills everybody else more than it thrills me.”

Lucidity runs November 21–24 at Seattle Opera. Tickets and info at seattleopera.org/lucidity.