John Aylward’s OBLIVION Sets New International Workshops and Screenings

Following its win for “Best Musical Film” at the Cannes World Film Festival earlier this year, composer and librettist John Aylward’s one-act opera film Oblivion has set new performances and screenings this fall in the United States and Italy.

On November 6, 2025, Enigma Chamber Opera will present a live workshop performance of Oblivion at the Goethe-Institut Boston. This RSVP-only event will feature live vocal performances alongside projected film excerpts, offering audiences a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Aylward’s creative process and the evolving intersection between opera and film. RSVP and details are available here. 

Oblivion will also appear on the European festival circuit this fall. Oblivion is participating in the Festival Internazionale del Cinema di Salerno, where it will be streamed globally through the Festival’s new online platform from October 15-31. Films will be available for online viewing and public voting. Viewers from all over the world can watch the films and rate them, contributing to the Audience Award – International Popular Jury.

The film has also been officially selected for inclusion in the Contemporary “Panorama” section of the Messina Opera Film Festival, taking place from November 29-December 7, 2025. 

Aylward wrote the story, libretto, and music for the 70-minute film, produced by Ravenser Odd Productions and co-produced by independent filmmaker Graham Swon. The film was directed by Laine Rettmer with Alice Millar as Director of Photography and stars Ty Boque, Nina Guo, Lukas Pappenfuscline, and Cailin Marcel Manson.

Aylward began work on Oblivion just before the COVID-19 pandemic and immediately began to imagine a live staging, which seemed impossible at the time. He pitched the idea of creating a film to Swon and Rettmer, who became pivotal collaborators. The team shot the film in 12 days at Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the Copper Lantern Motel in West Brimfield, Massachusetts. Aylward worked with a post-production team to create the visuals that fused the pre-recorded studio audio and footage from the film shoot together.

Drawing inspiration from Dante’s Purgatorio, Oblivion takes viewers inside a surreal netherworld where two disoriented Wanderers struggle to make sense of their existence, unsure of whose account to trust – or whether they even want the answers. The atmosphere is set by Aylward’s score for four voices, backed by viola, cello, double bass, electric guitar, and electronics.

The film’s cast recording, released on New Focus Recordings in September 2023, features Laura Williamson, viola; MIZU, cello; Greg Chudzik, contrabass; Daniel Lippel, guitar; John Aylward, electronics; Stratis Minakakis, Musical Director; and Joel Gordon, recording engineer. Listen to it below.

About John Aylward

Aylward is the co-director of Ecce, a contemporary new music and performance art ensemble. Besides Aylward, the ensemble is co-directed by Grace Hughes and Hassan Anderson and features Jordan Hadrill, violin; Robbie Bui, cello; Lily Xie, flutes; Barret Ham, clarinet; and Geoffrey Burleson, piano.

Unconstrained by traditional boundaries in classical music, Ecce creates new and original interactions with music by performing in often unconventional environments. Known for supporting the work of emerging composers, especially through its annual Etchings festival, Ecce has cultivated a worldwide community through in-person performances, educational endeavors, and a wealth of video and multimedia resources.

Recent awards and fellowships include those from the John S. Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, the Koussevitzky Commission from the Library of Congress, the Fromm Foundation, MacDowell, Tanglewood, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, First Prize from the International Society for Contemporary Music, and many others.