As part of EC/21’s ten-year anniversary, John has composed a new work for the ensemble featuring mezzo-soprano Cherry Duke.

Setting the poem by Christina Rossetti, "Echo" captures the intensity of grief and nostalgia over a lost love as experienced within the liminal state between sleep and consciousness, juxtaposing hazy, dreamlike textures with more pointedly stringent ones. The singer implores their lost love to return to them in dreams, in a place of fantastical possibility, but they remain wounded by memories of "finished years." With time, the wounds of grief and loss become smaller, though still tender, as they never fully fade away. These experiences leave an indelible mark on our souls, a reminder of our fragile human hearts and our capacity to give and accept love despite the risks it carries. Even when love leaves us broken, there is solace in the strength it takes to be vulnerable enough to experience this precious gift.