What is love – and which voices are allowed to sing opera? Taking the myth of Echo and Narcissus as its starting point, the brand-new work ‘EKKO’  by OperArkitekterne explores and expands the expressive space of classical opera and the traditional love story.

The nymph Echo and the beautiful Narcissus could not be together. Both were cursed by Hera, and while Echo was condemned to forever only repeat the words of others, Narcissus could no longer love anyone more than the reflection of himself. The forever captivating myth of the Gods’ whims and the lost love forms the foundation for this newly composed opera's exploration of the nature of love and the narrow roles and limited vocal types of opera.

Compelling soloists and vocal performers, with a longing, sensuous expression and in collaboration with strings, percussion, clarinet, and horn, transform the myth into a fluid, uncompromising, and poetic movement—from the classical opera’s narrative into an abstract and open form, where anything can happen. ‘EKKO’ challenges our limiting ideas about art, gender, and love, and liberates the operatic genre into a new performative sound space.

‘EKKO’ is the first part of an opera cycle created by composer Josefine Opsahl and conductor Rose Heiberg, who together, as OperArkitekterne, work toward a contemporary and diverse opera genre with room for more genders, voices, and bodies. With a loving nod to a strong operatic tradition, the company seeks to build on and create something new from the beauty that opera already holds.