"Music always has the potential to speak to us, to comfort us and to help us feel understood," commented soprano Ruby Hughes on the programme "End of My Days" she created together with the Manchester Collective during the first corona lockdown. The songs by John Dowland, Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler and other composers - including contemporary composers - deal empathetically with themes such as love, loss and separation. Mahler's "Urlicht" conveys the confidence that we will return to where we came from when we enter eternity. The eponymous song by Errollyn Wallen embraces death - and celebrates life at the same time.