NEW YORK — What is the connection between music and memory? This is the question posed by Lucidity, the new opera by Laura Kaminsky and David Cote commissioned by On Site Opera and premiered on Nov. 14 at the Abrons Arts Center. The intimate 90-minute, one-act work goes beyond this important research topic to explore deeper considerations of the lifelong cost of our decisions.
Lucidity was written for and stars soprano Lucy Shelton, who at 80 continues to perform new music well past the retirement age of most classical singers. She plays Lili, a retired opera singer in the early stages of dementia living with her adopted son, Dante, who cares for her. Outside the little family are Dr. Claire Klugman, a neuroscientist studying the effects of music on memory, and Sunny, a young clarinet student who provides weekly music therapy sessions for Lili as part of Claire’s clinical study.
Gradually, we learn that Dante gave up a promising career as a pianist, and that Claire, once a gifted singer who studied with Lili, loves science but is experiencing writer’s block. Sunny’s choices in pursuit of a music career have caused a painful rift with her parents. And Lili turns out to be a prolific composer who has quietly continued working on an unfinished song cycle about her relationship with her son. All four characters draw strength and meaning from music, which connects the four while providing provisional resolution to their lingering inner conflicts.
On Site Opera has been producing bespoke versions of operas old and new since the company’s founding in 2012, staging site-specific productions in non-theatrical locations like mansions, museums, gardens, and even a soup kitchen. It seemed odd to attend an On Site event staged in a traditional theater, but director Sarah Meyers had a clever approach. Attendees made their way to the Henry Street Settlement, a venerable Lower East Side social services agency. From the lobby of the 110-year-old, 300-seat theater, attendees were directed through a door and up a long ramp that led to the stage, where seating for about 80 faced the auditorium. A ghost light stood center stage, five musicians from the American Modern Ensemble were stationed just below the stage apron, and the rest of the theater was largely empty.
The action takes place over the course of 25 days, with scenes played at the front of the stage and around the auditorium. For the opening scene, Claire, from her office in the balcony, sang a monologue about her choice to give up music for science and her current writer’s block. The balcony’s distance from the audience established both her psychological and physical distance from Lili and her life. Most of the action took place in Lili’s apartment, on the stage just a few feet from the audience, where Lili sat in vague confusion, trying to remember music and the people in her life.
As the characters revealed more about themselves, the action played out closer to the audience, with Claire coming to Lili’s apartment in the final scene and reconnecting with Lili and her son. The current state of Alzheimer’s research being what it is, no happy ending resulted from Dr. Klugman’s work, but the characters experienced catharsis through their honesty, and Lili was transformed from a confused, pajama-clad crone to the grand dame, remembering and being appreciated for her lifetime of art.
Kaminsky writes skillfully for chamber ensemble: Scored for violin, cello, clarinet, piano, and extensive percussion, the piece has both delicacy and heft as needed to underlie the dramatic landscape. Her vocal writing lies gracefully in the voice, following speech rhythms and expressively shaping the language. Instrumental accompaniment supports the emotional temperature without imposing melody. An ominous repeated tattoo on bass drum bridges scenes and suggests the relentless passage of time. David Cote’s libretto demarcates each character with distinctive language, which reveals their inner journey as much as the thoughts they express. Though each tale was compelling, the four intertwined life stories felt like too much plot for the compact work, with a tidy ending that was unconvincing. Still, there were moments that must have resonated for almost any viewer.
The most prominent musical themes came from Schubert’s “Shepherd on the Rock,” a short Lied for soprano, clarinet, and piano. In several scenes, Sunny and Dante try to get Lili to sing the music, but the older woman can only remember a few notes of this once-familiar work. By the last scene, we hear a brief excerpt of Shelton’s own recording, a faded but true document of a great artist.
As Lili, the luminous veteran mastered vocal lines that included speech, sprechstimme, and resonant swoops expressing everything from frustration to perplexity to diva grandiosity. Her acting was remarkably detailed and eloquent for a singer whose operatic debut was only two years ago (in Kaija Sariaaho’s Innocence, in which she is scheduled to make her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2026).
Mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert brought quiet dignity and a rich, mature-sounding voice to the role of Dr. Klugman. The sturdy baritone Eric McKeever conveyed Dante’s emotional arc, his voice warming as the character opens up to Sunny, performed by the excellent young soprano Cristina María Castro. She created a brave and hopeful young woman, the most in touch with her feelings of any of the characters. For the scenes where Sunny and Dante played for Lili, clarinetist Yasmina Spiegelberg and pianist Kyle P. Walker provided sensitive accompaniment. Music director Geoffrey McDonald kept the music flowing and responded to the dramatic arc of the libretto.
Mental health has become a trendy topic in contemporary opera. Lambit Beecher’s Sky on Swings portrayed an institutionalized dementia patient; Ellen Reid’s p r i s m explored the effects of trauma after assault; Philip Venables’ 4.48 Psychosis looked at clinical depression. Lucidity may never rank as the definitive depiction of managing memory loss, but there is certainly room for more works about this devastating condition.
Lucidity is a co-commission with Seattle Opera, where it will have five performances Nov 21-24. For information and tickets, go here. The opera will also have three performances at Houston’s Opera in the Heights Feb. 21-23, 2025. For information and tickets, go here.
