By WILLIAM J. WRIGHT
From Gaston Leroux’s classic The Phantom of the Opera and its countless stage and film adaptations to H.P. Lovecraft’s The Music of Erich Zahn to Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box, horror and music have always possessed a unique synergy. Few understand this connection as deeply as Siberian-born operatic singer, multi-instrumentalist, experimental electronic musician, and multi-disciplinary mixed-media artist, Alia Synesthesia. Founder and Prima Donna of Toronto’s Horror & Opera Company, Canada’s largest producer of genre-themed opera, Synesthesia unleashed her latest project, THE LOST OPERA, in October.
Described as an immersive “haunted box,” THE LOST OPERA uses audio drama, music and physical artifacts such as photographs to tell the terrifying story of a passionate Ph.D. student’s search for Mortuus Messis, a composition with dark secrets, thought to be lost forever. Now available digitally, THE LOST OPERA will be released in physical format on December 16. This version includes all the material from the digital release, including physical cassette tapes of the protagonist’s dissertation, photographs, letters, and other ephemera.
“There’s something captivating about uncovering lost histories, hidden stories, and forgotten art,” Synesthesia explains. “For the past year, I’ve been immersed in [a] half-composition, half-research project that taps into a myriad of exciting themes, blends fact and fiction, myth and reality … I’m excited to share the culmination of that journey: THE LOST OPERA Project, an exploration into the hauntingly beautiful and enigmatic world of Mortuus Messis, an opera that was performed just once in 1916 in Blackwater, Massachusetts, before vanishing into obscurity.”
Click here to order THE LOST OPERA now. For more information about Horror & Opera, including a schedule of upcoming events, go to the company’s official website.
