Sofie Vanden Eynde & Imago Mundi | Tears into Light

Tears into Light is a multidisciplinary performance that brings together early music, contemporary composition, text, and care practice in a poignant reflection on melancholy, mourning, and resilience. Starting from John Dowlands Lachrymae or Seven Tears, artistic director Sofie Vanden Eynde develops a new soundscape in which lute, voice, duduk, and live electronics enter into a dialogue with each other. Componist Vladimir Gorlinsky reinterprets Dowland's iconic masterpiece and weaves it with Armenian traditions and a contemporary sensibility. The artistic concept germinated during a long-term research and participation trajectory in a residential care center and a palliative day center. In intimate conversations, residents and guests shared their insights about loss, regret, comfort, darkness, and the unexpected light. These voices not only formed an emotional backbone but also guided the dramaturgical and musical choices. New texts by Fleur Pierets, together with Sufi poetry by, among others, Hafez, anchor their experiences in the performance - literally audible in the soundscape and figuratively in the emotional undertow. The sound of the duduk - an instrument that traditionally accompanies mourning rituals - becomes a bridge between times and traditions. Its whispering tone blends with Elizabethan melancholy and new compositions, and embodies the journey from darkness to light. What began as an unfinished invitation to create a program around Armenia thus grew into a profound investigation into how grief, history, and hope intertwine. The dramaturgy approaches melancholy as a form of attention and inner space, inspired by thinkers such as Robert Burton, the School of Night, and mystical currents within Sufism. Melancholy appears here not as heaviness or stagnation, but as a necessary slowing down in which reflection, empathy, and transformation can arise: “O morning wind, bring me the news of dawn…” (Hafez). Visual artist Ria Verhaeghe adds a subtle but meaningful visual layer. Her work, in which anonymous photos are re-read and transformed, forms a poetic reflection on how history, memory, and identity continue to rewrite themselves - a process that closely aligns with the musical reinterpretations within Tears into Light. The performance wants to create a space where darkness is not avoided, but approached attentively - where music, art, and human stories together make an opening to light: “O heart, do not be afraid of the long night… for in the depths of the night, the dawn is closest.” (Hafez). Eugénie De Mey: vocals Vardan Hovanissian: duduk Sofie Vanden Eynde: artistic direction and lute Jo Thielemans: live-electronics Texts: e.g. Fleur Pierets Muziek: e.g. John Dowland and Vladimir Gorlinsky Beeldend work: Ria Verhaeghe