Guiding lights

In recent years, the Candlelight Concerts brand has become a phenomenon, helped in no small part by social media. Rebecca Franks finds out more

-  Rebecca Franks

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.'