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This season, various London venues are playing host to cosy candlelight concerts with music to suit all tastes. Many of the buildings are of historical or architectural interest so it’s a wonderful opportunity to visit them whilst enjoying a relaxed treat.
Highlights of the programme include:
Love Actually, Home Alone & More (17 December, St Mary’s Church, Marylebone)
The City String Ensemble will play classic festive film songs in the distinctively designed St Mary’s Church, which you may recognise as St Jude’s from Last Christmas.
Candlelight Jazz: Christmas Classics (18 & 21 December, Glaziers Hall)
Set in the only livery hall south of the river, enjoy festive classics with a jazzy twist in this beautifully restored riverside building.
Candlelight: Nutcracker & More ft. Ballet (23 December, Central Hall Westminster)
This event offers you a double treat with music from string quartet Artisti con Brio and dancing by Ana Freire, Michaela Marrable and Kamal Singh. Central Hall Westminster is reputed to have the second largest domed ceiling of its type in the world. Built by Wesleyan Methodists as a place to be of “great service for conferences on religious, educational, scientific, philanthropic and social questions”, it was the venue for Suffragette Movement meetings in 1914 and host to the United Nations General Assembly’s first meeting in 1946.
New Year’s Extravaganza by Candlelight (2 January, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square)
The beautifully imposing St Martin-in-the-Fields church (so named as when it was first built in medieval times, it was surrounded by farmland) on Trafalgar Square is the parish church serving the Royal Family, 10 Downing Street and the Admiralty. The evening’s programme includes works by Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart, Pachelbel and Bach, which will be performed by the Festive Orchestra of London, violinist Catherine Manson and oboist James Eastaway.
Please visit Fever for full listings and to secure your tickets.