The night is a source of wonder and fascination, rich with metaphorical associations. Our programme features counterpoint, aching dissonance and chromaticism from across a range of styles spanning nearly 500 years. A key theme is the notion that the night can be a space and time for change and transformation. The sense of guilt and foreboding in Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht gives way to a stronger bond of love. Strauss’ Metamorphosen, written in the final year of WWII, is an acknowledgment that things will never be the same again. Daniel Kidane’s Be Still marks an inflection point in the depths of the recent COVID-19 pandemic as we were searching for a way forward. Full of heartache and spiritual suffering, the Renaissance works of Casulana, Purcell and Gesualdo speak to the night as a state of being, and a portent of death, with each of these works transformed through arrangements for string orchestra.