String quartet to perform Halloween-themed tunes
TOLEDO – The Toledo Summit in Downtown Toledo is going to get pretty creepy.
As the season of ghosts and spooks hits full stride, the venue will host Halloween-themed Candlelight Concerts on Oct. 19 and 27.
The Listeso String Quartet, comprised of two local violinists, a violist and a cellist, is scheduled to perform seasonal favorites that conjure up sinister images, such as Beetlejuice, Michael Myers, the Exorcist, Ghostbusters, Norman Bates and the “altogether ooky” Addams Family.
The promotion company Fever has been presenting Candlelight Concerts around the globe since 2019, starting in Madrid, and has sold millions of tickets in more than 150 cities and 20 nations. The company began hosting concerts in Toledo in 2023.
“Since our launch in Toledo, we’ve been warmly received by the local audience, and we look forward to continuing to enrich the city’s cultural scene with new programs, like Halloween-themed or our Holiday Special featuring The Nutcracker and more,” said Amanda Boucault, communications coordinator for Candlelight Concerts, in an email Q&A.
The Toledo shows thus far have featured classical musicians giving different spins on familiar songs by artists, such as the Beatles, Coldplay, Adele, Queen, and Imagine Dragons, all surrounded by the soft glow of thousands of electronic candles flickering on and near the stage.
Fever’s goal from the start has been to make classical music more accessible to audiences that don’t usually listen to the genre.
“We launched Candlelight Concerts in 2019 as we recognized the need to make classical music more accessible to a wider audience and reach beyond the core demographic of classical music enthusiasts,” Boucault said.
This innovative format represents a unique live musical experience through a varied offer of programs to meet all tastes, played by local musicians, in emblematic venues, with the space and performers illuminated by thousands of candles
Amanda Boucault
The musicians are hired by Fever’s in-house music curation team, which Boucault said is dedicated to selecting talented local musicians who align with their belief that classical music can reach a diverse audience and demonstrate this by performing compositions for all tastes.
The local musicians can vary from one show to the next, but all perform under the Listeso String Quartet moniker. (Musicians interested in performing Candlelight Concerts can apply online at candlelightexperience.com/artists/)
The Candlelight Concerts series initially featured works by top classical composers, such as Mozart, Vivaldi and Chopin, but over the years the repertoire has broadened to include virtually all musical genres.
“Now, we have expanded our list of programs including a wide variety of themes and genres, such as tributes to contemporary artists, as well as shows dedicated to movie soundtracks and many more,” Boucault explained.
“The introduction of these ‘tribute’ programs more aligned to jazz, rock, hip-hop and pop artists, but performed by a string quartet or other classical instruments also enables us to connect with a broader audience that might have never considered a classical music concert before,” he added.
Fever develops the themes for its shows based on recommendations from its in-house music curation team and research that takes into account global metrics and feedback from the audience and musicians, Boucault said.
The tentative program for the Toledo Halloween-themed concerts will feature the Listeso String Quartet performing the following selections:
- Thriller – Michael Jackson
- Funeral March of a Marionette – Charles Gounod
- String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor (Dresden Quartet), Op. 110: II. Allegro Molto – Dmitri Shostakovich
- Tubular Bells (Theme from The Exorcist) – Mike Oldfield
- Stranger Things (Theme) – S U R V I V E
- Beetlejuice (Theme) – Danny Elfman
- The Addams Family (Theme) – Vic Mizzy
- Halloween (Theme) – John Carpenter
- Psycho (Prelude) – Bernard Herrmann
- Ghostbusters (Theme) – Ray Parker Jr.
- Danse Macabre – Camille Saint-Saëns
- Night on Bald Mountain – Modest Mussorgsky
- Der Erlkönig – Franz Schubert
- Medley from The Nightmare Before Christmas – Danny Elfman
- In the Hall of the Mountain King – Edvard Grieg
The candlelight shows are condensed from the typical 90-minute concert to a 65-minute format, part of Fever’s plan to make the concerts more appealing to diverse audiences.
One question fans often ask is: Who flips the switches on all those battery-powered candles?
“We use thousands of candles to create the intimate atmosphere of each Candlelight Concert,” Boucault said. “Our team typically arrives early on the day of the concert to set up the stage, and later that night, they break everything down. At some locations, we have remote controls to turn off the lights, but most of the time, this is done manually a few hours before each performance.”
Candlelight: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics will be performed at The Summit Toledo, 23 N. Summit St., at 6:30 and 8:45 p.m. Oct. 19 and Oct. 27. Doors open 45 minutes prior to the start time and late entry is not permitted. Seating is assigned on a first-come, first-served basis in each zone. Tickets are $42.50, $53, and $59.50 available at feverup.com/en/toledo-oh.
