Pow'rful Morpheus, let thy charms
Wrap the world in slumber's arms,
With thy sweet composed numbers,
Rock each mortal in slumbers.
So no ear or eye shall know
Where we are or what we do. (William Webb, 17th C.)

Throughout the centuries, writers, painters and composers have been inspired by the enigma of sleep, that mysterious slumber world into which mortals vanish at night, only to return at dawn. No one knows exactly what they truly experience there and whom they may encounter. Perhaps that is precisely why sleep is associated with such a wide variety of images. This is reflected in the rich gallery of mythological figures such as Hypnos, the personification of sleep, and his direct relatives: the gods of night (Nyx), darkness (Erebus), the world of dreams (Morpheus) and death (Thanatos).

These symbols find their way into SOMNIA, where sleep is sometimes portrayed as a source of peace and comfort, and sometimes as a foreshadowing of a desired or feared death.

Under the watchful eye of Hypnos and his companions, Zefiro Torna descends into the parallel universe of sleep. Sublime compositions by Baroque masters such as Kapsberger, Dowland, Moulinié and Huygens merge with timeless traditions from different corners of the earth. The enchanting voice of Lore Binon and the delicate sounds of Jurgen De bruyn's theorbo and lute open the gates to a hallucinatory dream world, where tenderness and cruelty meet.

In the trio version with cellist Jasmijn Lootens, this universe takes on an extra dimension, like a cinematic soundtrack unfolding in a subtle tapestry of acoustic and electronic resonances.