The Lost Opera by Horror & Opera is an immersive multimedia storytelling experience, presented as a ‘Haunted Box’ project. It blends audio drama and operatic composition with both physical artifacts and digital media. The story follows the chilling gothic narrative of Mortuus Messis, a long-lost opera, revealed through the research diary tapes of a dedicated Ph.D. student, Jared Eastwood, who is determined to uncover its secrets. Discipline Mag is proud to unveil the first track from The Lost Opera, ‘Incantation’.
The brainchild of multi-genre spanning artist Alia Synesthesia, she had the following to say about the upcoming Horror & Opera release:
“There’s something captivating about uncovering lost histories, hidden stories, and forgotten art. For the past year, I’ve been immersed in half composition, half research project that taps into a myriad of exciting for me themes, blends fact and fiction, myth and reality. Today, 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.”
The track ‘Incantation’ weaves a gothic, tribalistic undertone throughout. Sparse operatic vocals punctuate the dark, ruminous ambience, gradually giving way to a madness of taunting laughter and rhythmic percussion. Alia Synesthesia’s mastery of these sonic realms is unmistakable in the universal darkness of the five-minute piece.
The Lost Opera ‘Haunted Box’ is offered in both digital and physical formats. The digital edition includes downloadable audio of the opera and the protagonist’s dissertation tapes, accompanied by digital artifacts that provide further insight into the story and its characters. The physical version contains all the digital content, along with cassette tapes, photographs, letters, and other collectible ephemera.
Listen to ‘Incantation’ below:
Alia Synesthesia will join ATTRITION as they embark on their first ever tour of Australia and a return trip to New Zealand, from 24 October – 9 November 2024. For the Australian dates they are joined by ‘Industrial Synth Crust’ artist Schkeuditzer Kreuz (Kieren Hills) from the Blue Mountains of NSW, and by further local supports across both Australia and New Zealand. Alia joins both as a session live member of ATTRITION, and as a supporting artist in Subterranea. Full dates are below:
Thursday October 24th – Rosemount Hotel, Perth, Australia
With Schkeuditzer Kreuz and Subterranea
Friday October 25th – Hotel Metro, Adelaide, Australia
With Schkeuditzer Kreuz and Subterranea
Saturday October 26th – Singing Bird Studios, Frankston, VIC, Australia
With Schkeuditzer Kreuz and Subterranea
Sunday October 27th – Altar, Hobart, TAS, Australia
With Schkeuditzer Kreuz and Subterranea
Thursday October 31st – Gasometer Hotel, Melbourne, Australia
With Schkeuditzer Kreuz and Subterranea
Friday, November 1st, Darling Nikki’s, Sydney, Australia
With Schkeuditzer Kreuz and Subterranea
Saturday, November 2nd, The Cave Inn, Brisbane, Australia
With Schkeuditzer Kreuz and Subterranea
Sunday, November 3rd, Black Box theatre, Nambour, QLD, Australia
With Schkeuditzer Kreuz and Subterranea
Thursday, November 7th, Embankment Tavern, Christchurch, New Zealand
With Subterranea
Friday, November 8th, Valhalla, Wellington, New Zealand
With Subterranea
Saturday, November 9th, The Tuning Fork, Auckland, New Zealand
With Subterranea
About Alia Synesthesia
The Lost Opera by Horror & Opera is the creation of Siberian-Canadian artist Alia Synesthesia, who composed, performed, produced, mixed, and mastered the work. A classically-trained operatic singer, multi-instrumentalist, and multidisciplinary artist, Alia was born in Yakutsk (Sakha Republic), where she began her formal music training at the age of six. From that point onward, music and performance have been integral to her identity.
Alia began creating electronic music in 2011, drawing inspiration from artists like Skinny Puppy, Depeche Mode, Chelsea Wolfe, and others. However, her music defies classification, as it draws from a wide range of genres: from classical music to musique concrète, black metal to progressive rock, synthpop to darkwave, and industrial to dark ambient. These diverse influences weave through her work, often surfacing in surprising and unexpected ways.
Since 2017, Alia has toured extensively, performing across Hawaii, New Zealand, and Japan with her neoclassical symphonic dungeon synth project, Subterranea, as well as serving as a live touring member of the renowned industrial/darkwave pioneers ATTRITION (Coventry, UK).
In her hometown, Alia has opened for dungeon synth originator Mortiis and the black metal/heavy metal band Malokarpatan (Bratislava, Slovakia). Thanks to her sound’s versatility and uniqueness, she has shared the stage with a diverse range of acts, including metal, goth/darkwave, industrial bands, witch house acts like Valhall, synthwave artists such as Dana Jean Phoenix, and dark ambient/experimental groups like Northumbria, Uxvae, and Darsombra. Her voice is often described as ‘siren-like,’ ‘ethereal,’ haunting yet beautiful, with a powerful, deep quality. Alia’s compositions are intricate and multi-layered, blending tribal and hypnotic rhythms with nightmarish, baroque complexity.
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