What if grief is not an ending but a beginning? Tears into Light builds a contemporary ritual around John Dowland’s iconic Lachrimae, in which grief, memory and hope hold each other in balance. The production is rooted in conversations with the residents of a care home that also offers palliative care. They give this ode to melancholy an unmistakably human voice: vulnerable, but strong as a rock and disarmingly honest. The voice, lute and warm embrace of the Armenian duduk blend new music by Vladimir Gorlinsky, Sufi poetry, texts by Fleur Pierets and a visual story by Ria Verhaeghe into an intense experience. As we listen, we seek our way to the light.
Program
Music by J. Dowland, V. Gorlinsky and others
Performers
Eugénie De Mey, voice | Vardan Hovanissian, duduk | Jo Thielemans, live-electronics | Sofie Vanden Eynde, artistic leader & lute | Fleur Pierets, poetry | Ria Verhaeghe, visual work