Thousands of candles, a live string quartet and a setlist built entirely from Disney’s most swoon-worthy soundtracks: the Candlelight concert series is turning Southwark Cathedral into the most romantic seat in London this autumn.
Candlelight concerts have quietly taken over London’s most atmospheric venues over the past few years, string quartets reworking everything from Beethoven to Bridgerton by candlelight in churches, halls and cathedrals across the city. This one has a different brief: love songs from Disney’s back catalogue, arranged for strings and performed entirely by the glow of thousands of flickering candles.
Disney Concerts and Fever have teamed up for Candlelight: Disney Love Songs, a UK-wide series that lands at Southwark Cathedral for a run of dates between late August and Halloween. A local string quartet will work through a programme spanning generations of Disney soundtracks, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King, “A Whole New World” from Aladdin and “I See the Light” from Tangled, alongside newer additions like “Remember Me” from Coco and “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto.
It’s a formula that works because it doesn’t try too hard. Strip these songs back to strings and a cathedral’s worth of candlelight, and even the ones you’ve heard a thousand times land differently. Southwark Cathedral’s soaring stone and stained glass do a lot of the work here too, it’s a genuinely striking setting for a concert, Disney or otherwise.
London isn’t the only stop. The same programme is touring to Belfast Cathedral, the Merchants House of Glasgow, St Paul’s Church in Birmingham, Fitzwilliam College in Cambridge, St George’s Hall in Liverpool and Manchester Cathedral over the same period, so it’s worth checking dates near you if Southwark doesn’t line up with your diary.
The London x London Take: the Candlelight brand has become so ubiquitous across London’s churches and halls that it would be easy to be cynical about another edition landing in the calendar. This one earns its place, though, Disney’s soundtrack canon is stacked with genuinely well-written love songs, and stripping them back to a string quartet in a candlelit cathedral is a better showcase for them than you’d expect. Good for a date night that isn’t another restaurant booking, and popular enough that early dates tend to sell out, so don’t leave booking to the week before.
Need to know
- Where: Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge, London SE1 9DA
- When: 29 August, 17 September, 24 September, 10 October, 23 October, 24 October and 31 October 2026, with 7pm and 9pm sittings on each date
- Price: From £19.50
- Tickets: Book via Fever
