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.

A Conversation with Mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges

Photo by Todd Rosenberg

J’Nai Bridges is among the world’s leading mezzo-sopranos performing today. She has been heralded and praised by critics at The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, to name only a few. J’Nai is a principal cast member of the 2022 Grammy Award-winning recording of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten produced by The Metropolitan Opera. In this conversation with Seattle Opera, J’Nai talks about growing up in Lakewood, WA, a suburb of Tacoma; her love of basketball; and returning home to perform in our 2023 concert production of Samson and Delilah.

This interview was originally conducted in 2022.

Alzheimer's, Music, and Memory

by Rui M. Costa, DVM, PhD

An image showing the charting of brainwave trajectories of individual neurons using the Expansion Selective Plane Illumination Microscope (ExA-SPIM).

The opera Lucidity delves into the fragmented, bewildering world of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, a space where memory dissolves and identity blurs. It confronts a cruel paradox: characters who know that they don't know, those who don’t know that they don’t know, and others who are painfully aware of the knowledge lost by those around them. Amid this narrative of memory loss and fading recollection, one aspect remains untouched—music. Music cuts through the fog of memory loss, reaching into the deepest parts of the human brain, stirring something enduring even when other aspects of cognition fail. 

Praise for Jubilee

Sarah Joyce Cooper (Minnie Tate), Greg Watkins (Benjamin Holmes), Aundi Marie Moore (Maggie Porter), Darren Drone (Edmund Watkins), Lisa Arrindell (Ella Sheppard), Marin Bakari (Greene Evans), and Tiffany Townsend (America Robinson) in Jubilee. © Sunny Martini

"This may be the best show in my 30ish years of Seattle Opera attendance." –Seattle Opera Patron

Christina Scheppelmann wins the Leadership in Opera Award

by Chloe Woodward

On October 2, Christina Scheppelmann was awarded the Leadership in Opera Award at the 2024 International Opera Awards in Munich, Germany. With over three decades of leadership experience, this award recognizes Scheppelmann’s many career achievements across three continents. Her award recognizes that “Christina has truly transformed the world of opera, navigating challenges and breaking barriers along the way.” 

 

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The history of Jubilee Singers in Seattle

by Candace Burgess

In the 1920s, Seattle was in the midst of a transformation. No longer a bustling wartime city, tensions were high between employers and labor unions. The wartime population grew while accommodations became scarce. Trauma from the outgoing Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 (Spanish flu) fostered a culture of social distancing and isolation. And the Red Scare, as well as the re-emergence of the KKK, further exacerbated and codified racial animosities against minorities in the majority white town. Despite these adversities, Seattle still advanced. It became a cultural hub, attracting all manner of artists and musicians. It is in this context that the Fisk Jubilee Singers made their first appearance in Seattle.

More than Music: The Hidden Messages in Spirituals

by Chloe Woodward

On October 12, Seattle Opera will present the world premiere of Jubilee, a new opera which highlights the early years of the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University. Created and directed by Tazewell Thompson, this new opera follows the unique journey of the Jubilee Singers as they shared African American spirituals around the world, ultimately changing music forever.

A map of the Underground Railroad, a network of routes used by enslaved African Americans seeking freedom.

The Spirituals in JUBILEE

In October 2024, Seattle Opera presents the world premiere of Jubilee, a new opera telling the story of how the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University popularized African American spirituals in the years following the Civil War. These traditional songs, created, refined, and shared anonymously by enslaved Americans, are the foundation on which all American music has been built. The music is wild and intense; beautiful and painful; full of despair, hope, and uplift. African American opera singers have long championed the spirituals, often concluding concerts and recitals with these beloved songs. Jubilee makes of the spirituals a full evening’s entertainment. 

Meet Seattle Opera's Next General and Artistic Director

James Robinson is Seattle Opera’s next General and Artistic Director, beginning September 4, 2024. Learn more about our dynamic new leader in this short Q&A interview, where he discusses why he’s eager to come to Seattle Opera, his philosophy for creating new works and his approach to the standard repertory, his drive for artistic excellence, and what he enjoys doing in his free time.

Seattle Opera's next General and Artistic Director, James Robinson. © David Jaewon Oh

James Robinson named General and Artistic Director of Seattle Opera

Robinson begins September 4, 2024,
following 16 years at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

Seattle Opera's next General and Artistic Director, James Robinson. © David Jaewon Oh

James Robinson is the next General and Artistic Director of Seattle Opera, and the fifth person to lead the company in its 61-year history. Robinson begins his tenure on September 4, 2024, replacing Christina Scheppelmann, who takes over as General and Artistic Director of Brussels’ La Monnaie/De Munt in January 2025 following the completion of her contract with Seattle Opera.