In Darknesse

“When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
 
…when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee…

  …thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright”*

Bringing together text and music in one continuous arc, IN DARKNESSE explores the unquiet thoughts, sleep, and dreams of an individual yearning for release from the ecstasy and pain of love.

Forming the second of three events in our 2025 Season — the Night Series — IN DARKNESSE brings together some of Aotearoa and Australia’s leading voices in early music, including rising star Austin Haynes (countertenor) and leading Australian lutenist Samantha Cohen in her Aotearoa debut.

We’re delighted to also re-introduce familiar face Kamala Bain as one of our ensemble’s core members, alongside co-director Imogen Granwal on viola da gamba, and our colleague Joan Perarnau Garriga (NZSO) on violone.

IN DARKNESSE weaves together some of the finest lute songs by John Dowland with aching works from across the British Isles, including extracts from Eccles’ The Mad Lover, as well as music by Purcell, Hume, Nicola Matteis, Irish composer Turlough O’Carolan, new ‘refractions’ made from the threads of Dowland’s songs by ensemble co-director Luka Venter, and more.

Join us for this musical journey through the dark depths of the night into the light of the new day.

6pm — 12 July 2025 — St Mary of the Angels

$30 — adults
$10 — students

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*Quotation by Shakespeare — taken from Sonnet 27

THE NIGHT WATCH (co-directors: Imogen Granwal, Luka Venter)

Kamala Bain (recorders)
Samantha Cohen (lute/theorbo)
Austin Haynes (countertenor)
Joan Perarnau Garriga (violone)

Photography: Murielle Michetti