The Hollow is a new dramatic work commissioned by Stare at the Sun, a contemporary-focus mixed-voice chamber choir based out of Chicago and in collaboration with composer Matthew Recio.

 

This ensemble-opera examines the emptiness experienced by people struggling with major depression. Experimenting with both sound and space, audience members will walk a trail in the Cook County Forest Preserves, following the TRAVELER, a person who is as much a mystery to themselves as they are to the audience. Together, they encounter moments in time that are soon revealed as the memories the TRAVELER has forgotten and effectively quarantined in the pain of their depression. These moments/memories/ECHOes mirror the TRAVELER’s fragmented state. As they accept recollection, the TRAVELER changes, both emotionally but also physically as they trade places with their ECHO, demonstrating their progression and transformation over the course of the opera.