St. Ignatius Parish

If you think you know Coldplay and Imagine Dragons, try hearing them reimagined by a string quartet in the nave of St Ignatius Church, with hundreds of candles flickering around you. The Candlelight series has a knack for transforming familiar music into something unexpectedly intimate, and this setting is one of its most striking. The acoustics in St Ignatius do wonders for the arrangements, letting every note linger just a little longer than you’d expect. It’s not a singalong or a spectacle—more like a chance to listen closely and notice details you’d miss at a stadium show. The hour-long format is just right: long enough to settle in, short enough to feel special. If you’re looking for a different way to spend an evening, this is a rare chance to hear pop hits in a space that makes them sound brand new.

Queen and ABBA make an oddly convincing pairing for a string quartet. The songs are already built around huge melodies and dramatic changes, so hearing them stripped down to strings puts the focus back on the writing rather than the production. The program runs from “Mamma Mia” and “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” to “Don’t Stop Me Now” and “We Will Rock You,” which is enough variety to keep the set from feeling like a single-band tribute. St. Ignatius Church is also a better fit for this format than a standard concert room, with the quartet's arrangements taking on a more intimate quality in the church setting. If you know these songs almost too well, that is the reason to go: the familiar material gets reshaped just enough to sound fresh without losing what made it stick in the first place.