As night falls the world is transformed: mysterious things happen, beauty is heightened, inhibitions are shed, secrets are revealed.

Join Chromatica Orchestra and writer, broadcaster and cultural historian Flora Willson for an evening of poetry, prose and stories told through music.

Once the lights go down it’s just you, the music and your imagination.

About the show

Writer, broadcaster and cultural historian Flora Willson sets the scene for the music with readings from Shakespeare‘s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Andrea Levy‘s Small Island, F Scott Fitzgerald‘s The Great Gatsby and Carol Ann Duffy‘s Night Marriage.

Felix Mendelssohn ‘Overture: A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
Mendelssohn was a composer who knew how to write a good tune and a goose-bump inducing harmony. In this piece, he also encapsulates an entire Shakespeare play into 12 minutes of music

Eleanor Alberga Nightscape
From chirping insects to ghostly tales, Eleanor Alberga blends jazz harmonies and childhood lullabies into a serenade evoking the atmosphere, folklore, and nocturnal rhythms of a Jamaican evening.

Benjamin Britten Soirées musicale
Written as music for a ballet, Britten adds a witty mid-century modern twist to the joyful exuberance of Rossini’s 19th-century melodies. This is dance music for a high society soiree –  all fluttering fans and stolen glances across the dance floor.

Arnold Schönberg Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night)
In a moonlit forest, two lovers walk. A secret is revealed. Inspired by Richard Dehmel’s poem about vulnerability, redemption, and the power of love to transfigure even the darkest night, the music begins restlessly tense and pulsing with inner turmoil but transforms to luminous radiance as acceptance wins out over judgment.