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Press Releases
The American Opera Project adds THE ECHO DRIFT to its streaming programming AOPTV: Opera Comes Home
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 22, 2020
BROOKLYN, NY - The 2018 World Premiere production of the experimental opera The Echo Drift is now available for audiences to watch for free on The American Opera Project website, www.aopopera.org. The 80-minute chamber opera by composer Mikael Karlsson and librettists Elle Kunnos de Voss and Kathryn Walat was called "a truly moving, dynamic piece of music theater that deserves a great deal of attention" by Opera News when it premiered in a co-production by AOP and PROTOTYPE as a highlight of the 2018 PROTOTYPE Festival.
Music by Mikael Karlsson
Libretto by Elle Kunnos de Voss & Kathryn Walat
WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION
January 10, 2018; Baruch Performing Arts Center, New York, NY
Produced by
AOP and PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now with Baruch Performing Arts Center
Performances by: Blythe Gaissert and John Kelly
Featuring the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
Nicholas DeMaison, conductor; Mallory Catlett, director
Mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert (As One, Today It Rains) stars as convicted murderer Walker Loats. Trapped in a timeless prison, Loats is unexpectedly befriended by a moth (New York theatre legend John Kelly) with an offer of a perceived way to freedom. Walker must choose between paying her dues or taking a shortcut that offers to rig the game in her favor.
Oscillating between the confines of a tiny cell and an expansive visual world of animation, The Echo Drift unravels a cycle of deceit, temptation, seduction, and fantastical perception. Featuring a live chamber ensemble, electronics, and a six-channel surround sound system, this opera explores the freewheeling nature of the mind when it is robbed of external stimuli and questions, when in extreme circumstances, is it possible to act in a way that goes against one’s nature?
The Echo Drift was commissioned, developed and produced by The American Opera Project, Beth Morrison Projects, and HERE. More information about the opera and its creators can be found at www.aopopera.org/echodrift.
Press for THE ECHO DRIFT:
Best of 2018: “a totally original and stunning, immersive piece… I'd be perfectly content if one of the pieces in this year's festival has even nearly its impact.” - Broadway World
"Directed by Mallory Catlett and conducted by Nicholas DeMaison in its world premiere at the Prototype festival, the production puts music, by Mikael Karlsson, on an equal footing with design, seeking multidimensionality on both fronts. Stark and intricate, propulsive and a little film-noir, “The Echo Drift” is most exciting when it is fast and cacophonous, nearly overwhelming the senses." - New York Times
“a startling science fiction conceit kickstarted the gripping one-act The Echo Drift. In this world premiere work, an inmate in a futuristic prison gets a visit from a talking moth that tries to persuade her than she can escape by rejecting her conventional sense of time and space. Everything about this presentation was virtuoso, from the psychedelic snarls and slithers in composer Mikael Karlsson’s orchestra writing to the sly, ironic whispers of actor John Kelly as the Moth. But the heart of the piece was the bravura singing of Blythe Gaissert as the panicky prisoner, her smoky mezzo biting into the wide-ranging and relentless vocal part with the violent abandon of a starving shark.” - The Observer
“a totally original and stunning, immersive piece… with a scintillating score composed by Mikael Karlsson, and a brilliant environmental production by Elle Kunnos de Voss in their first collaboration. … Gaissert is wonderful as Loats, giving herself over totally to the fantasy world that the creators have presented to her, more than holding her own vocally in the powerful and audacious orchestral setting–by turns jazzy, acoustic, electronic, melodic, atonal, soothing, blasting–that the composer has devised.” - Broadway World
“seventy immersive minutes of six-channel surround sound and projected animations … The score was modest, absorbing, and lush … For a story about a convicted murderer in solitary confinement, The Echo Drift is surprisingly accessible and apolitical. … Gaissert and Kelly fully embraced the sophisticated score and meta set, and The Echo Drift balanced an immersive multidimensional experience with a refreshing affirmation of human solidarity.” - I Care If You Listen
The American Opera Project (AOP) is at the forefront of the contemporary opera movement through its commissioning, developing, and producing of opera and music theatre projects, community engagement, and training programs for student and emerging composers and librettists including partnerships with NYU Tisch and Hunter College and its in-house, two-year fellowship program, Composers & the Voice, currently in its tenth season. www.aopopera.org
Press for AOP:
"known for bringing cutting-edge vocal productions to the masses" — New York
"a perfect first exposure to opera." — Time Out NY
"Bravo to AOP for supporting such controversial and ultimately important work." — Opera Today
"The future of American opera is in good hands." — Opera News
Media Contact: Matt Gray, General Director
email: mgray@aopopera.org, phone: 718-398-4024
Press material is available at: www.aopopera.org/about
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