Commissioned by On Site Opera and a consortium of companies: Opera in the Heights, Opera Ithaca, Seattle Opera, and Tri-Cities Opera.
Lucidity is a chamber 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. As her cognitive abilities decline, her son Dante—a once-promising pianist—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, introduces Lili to a music therapy study involving Sunny, a gifted young clarinetist.
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.
From NPR: “In ‘Lucidity,’ a new opera, music, and memory loss intertwine.”
By permission of the publisher: Bill Holab Music
Scene 1: A Ballroom in the Duke’s Palace (Mantua)
The Duke of Mantua boasts of his libertine lifestyle, particularly his pursuit of a mysterious young woman he has seen in church. He seduces the Countess Ceprano while Rigoletto, his hunchbacked court jester, mocks the cuckolded Count Ceprano. The courtiers, angered by Rigoletto’s cruelty, plot revenge.
Monterone, an old nobleman, enters and condemns the Duke for seducing his daughter. Rigoletto ridicules him, but Monterone furiously curses both the Duke and Rigoletto. Rigoletto is shaken by this curse.
Scene 2: A Dark Street Outside Rigoletto’s Home
Rigoletto broods over Monterone’s curse. The assassin Sparafucile offers his services, but Rigoletto declines.
At home, Rigoletto lovingly greets his daughter, Gilda, whom he keeps hidden from the world. Gilda, unaware of her father’s profession, confesses she has seen a young man at church and secretly loves him. That man is the Duke, who now arrives in disguise and declares his love for her.
After he leaves, the courtiers trick Rigoletto into helping them abduct Gilda, whom he believes they are kidnapping from Count Ceprano’s house. Once he realizes his mistake, he is devastated.
The Duke’s Palace
The Duke is distraught when he discovers Gilda is missing, but soon rejoices when he learns the courtiers have brought her to him.
Rigoletto enters, feigning indifference, but when the courtiers confirm Gilda’s abduction, he pleads for her return. Gilda appears, ashamed, and confesses her love for the Duke. Rigoletto vows revenge on his master.
A Tavern by the River
Rigoletto brings Gilda to a tavern where Sparafucile’s sister, Maddalena, lures the Duke inside. Disguised as a soldier, the Duke sings his famous aria “La donna è mobile,” mocking women’s fickleness. Maddalena, however, falls for him and persuades Sparafucile to spare him. Instead, they agree to kill the next visitor and place his body in a sack.
Rigoletto orders Gilda to leave town but she secretly returns, sacrificing herself by entering the tavern in disguise. Sparafucile unknowingly kills her instead of the Duke.
Later, Rigoletto comes to claim the body, only to hear the Duke’s voice in the distance. He opens the sack and finds his dying daughter. As Gilda dies in his arms, Rigoletto realizes Monterone’s curse has come true.
Fri. Feb. 27 at 7:30pm
Sun. Mar. 1 at 3pm
Performed in English
90 min with no intermission
Tri-Cities Opera Center
315 Clinton Street
Binghamton, NY 13905
December 11–13, 2025
Saturday, April 18, 2026
