It was a few years ago now, back in 2020, that I first noticed my Instagram feed filling up with eye-catching images of - dark churches filled with seas of glowing candles. They were adverts promising an evening of Chopin's piano music or Vivaldi's Four Seasons, although no musicians' names were given. At first, as it was the height of the pandemic (albeit between lockdowns), I'll confess I thought it was a scam. But then I saw posts from friends who had actually been and loved them. What's more, it was often people who had never been particularly interested in classical music before. Three years later, and I'm still getting lots of candlelit adverts. And, according to Fever, the company behind Candlelight Concerts, the series is now in over 100 cities around the world and has had more than three million attendees. It's a success story that few people in the classical music world are talking about.
In a bid to find out more about the Candlelight Concerts phenomenon, I recently joined an audience in All Saints Church in Bristol for an evening of Hans Zimmer's music, played by a string quartet from the local Bristol Ensemble. The musicians were raised up on a platform, in front of which were hundreds of candles - perhaps not quite as many as in some of the most dramatic publicity images, but a sizeable number nonetheless. Up close it was clear they were LED-powered rather than flickering live flames. Their warm glow created a welcoming atmosphere. The pews were packed, and the evening was a sell-out. Over the next hour, the musicians played extracts from Zimmer's soundtracks, with spoken introductions and interludes. The concert was exactly as the adverts promise: an enjoyable hour of music played in an atmospheric setting. It was amazing,' one concertgoer, Caleb, told me afterwards. It's been many years since I've come and seen something like this.'
This story is from the Christmas 2023 edition of BBC Music Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Christmas 2023 edition of BBC Music Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Discovering Donizetti - Thanks to a two-year lockdown project, nearly 200 previously lost Donizetti songs will now see the light of day
Thanks to a two-year lockdown project, nearly 200 previously lost Donizetti songs will now see the light of day. For most people, undertaking a lockdown project meant learning to bake sourdough bread, getting fit with Joe Wicks, or taking up a language. But Professor Roger Parker, the eminent historian of Italian opera and emeritus professor at King's College London, had something far more ambitious in mind. He set about unearthing songs by Gaetano Donizetti - many of which had been lost since the composer's lifetime - and the enterprise turned into a two-year labour of love.
Composer of the month - Bohuslav Martinů - Though the Czech absorbed many influences from his exile abroad, his colourful music was always distinctively his own
The youngest of six, Bohuslav was a sickly child, and his father or older sister often had to carry him the 193 steps up to the tower. He was shy at school, too, though showed an early talent for the violin and gave his first concert at 14. By the following year, the future composer was off to the Prague Conservatoire to take the first, if faltering, steps towards a career in music.
Symphonies Beside the Sea- Before cinema, the wireless and coach trips cast them adrift, seaside orchestras were once a major holiday attraction
Before cinema, the wireless and coach trips cast them adrift, seaside orchestras were once a major holiday attraction. It's a dimension of music-making that once was integral to many a British holiday experience, yet now has all but vanished. The tide went out, you might say, on the professional seaside (or pier, or spa) orchestra many decades ago. In their glory days, though - perhaps a quarter-century on either side of 1900-these ensembles were everywhere, from Bridlington to Eastbourne, New Brighton to Worthing, Blackpool to Bexhill-on-Sea, Cleethorpes to Brighton... the list is astonishing.
Richard Morrison- Do Classical Works About Mortality Reveal More To Us As We Get Older? Is it inevitably true that, as we journey through the decades, we are better able to interpret or empathise with a profoundly death-obsessed masterpiece such as Schubert's Winterreise?
As we get older do we respond differently to that vast canon of music dealing with mortality? Is it inevitably true that, as we journey through the decades, we are better able to interpret or empathise with a profoundly death-obsessed masterpiece such as Schubert's Winterreise? Or do human beings possess such a flexible sense of empathy that we can relate to virtually any state of mind if it is evoked convincingly enough by a composer?
Do Notes Win Votes? - There are multi-dimensional ways that music is used by political campaigners and their supporters today.
It was a little bit of history repeating when Rishi Sunak announced the UK General Election to the heckling of his political opponents blasting out D:Ream's 'Things Can Only Get Better'.
Västra Karup Sweden
The spirit of soprano Birgit Nilsson is alive and well in the town of her birth, home to a festival dedicated to her memory
Federico Colli
\"At this moment in time we don't need more virtuosi. We need musicians to engage with the philosophy of music
Harmonic Progression
What happens when classical music-style levels of ambition, invention and sheer length are brought to pop? The answer, as Meurig Bowen explains, is Prog Rock
Golden years
Young musicians may be physically fit, but with age come the advantages of wisdom and experience
Sweet Sixteen
As The Sixteen celebrates its 45th birthday, founder Harry Christophers speaks to Andrew Stewart about directing a choral powerhouse
