About

Convicted murderer Walker Loats is trapped in a timeless prison. Unexpectedly befriended by a moth 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 world premiere 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?

Support

Commissioned, developed, and produced by Beth Morrison Projects, HERE Arts Center, and American Opera Projects. Developed by Mikael Karlsson and Elle Kunnos de Voss in a full-length workshop presented by the Embassy of Sweden in Washington DC in 2014. World premiere production presented by the PROTOTYPE Festival in association with Baruch Performing Arts Center.

Press

“Everything about this presentation was virtuoso...”

The New York Observer

“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...what the eye sees is just as complex and alluring as what the ear hears.”