Lucidity is a new opera by composer Laura Kaminsky and librettist David Cote that explores the fragile interplay between memory, identity, and music. The story centers on Lili, a celebrated former opera singer confronting the early stages of dementia, played by Judy Berry. As her cognitive abilities decline, her son Dante—a once-promising pianist played by Roland Burks—has put his own career on hold to care for her. Their dynamic is further complicated when Dr. Claire Klugman, a neuroscientist and Lili’s former student (Darya Narymanava), introduces Lili to a music therapy study involving Sunny, a gifted young clarinetist (Kate Johnson).

As Lili struggles to retain fragments of her past, Schubert’s The Shepherd on the Rock—a song she once performed—serves as a recurring touchstone of memory and emotional clarity. Meanwhile, Dante wrestles with resentment and love as he navigates his mother’s deterioration, while Sunny and Claire each reflect on the sacrifices they’ve made for their respective paths. The relationships between the characters deepen, revealing how music acts as both a bridge and a balm in the face of personal loss and change.

Themes of memory, caregiving, ambition, and the transcendent power of music resonate throughout Lucidity. The opera is a meditation on how art can preserve identity even as the mind falters, and how love endures through the most intimate and difficult transformations. Through Kaminsky’s emotionally charged score and Cote’s poetic libretto, Lucidity offers a moving portrait of resilience, connection, and the healing capacity of sound.

Performed by permission of the publisher: Bill Holab Music

Commissioned by On Site Opera and a consortium of companies: Opera in the Heights, Opera Ithaca, Seattle Opera, and Tri-Cities Opera.