Under a stained-glass domed ceiling in downtown Seattle, this “The Lord of the Rings” concert is paying tribute to 13 of Howard Shore’s iconic pieces on strings

Seattle has been listening to The Lord of the Rings beyond the cinema for more than two decades: in July 2004, Howard Shore conducted the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in performances of his The Lord of the Rings Symphony at Benaroya Hall. Now, Candlelight: The Lord of the Rings puts selections from the trilogy’s music in the hands of a local string quartet.

This time, the setting is downtown Seattle’s Arctic Club Hotel, where sculpted walrus heads decorate the exterior and the Northern Lights Dome Room pairs a stained-glass ceiling with gilded details. Shore won’t be conducting this concert: a string quartet performs the setlist and sheet music he approved.

Candlelight: The Lord of the Rings in Seattle

Candlelight: The Lord of the Rings is a live concert of music from all three films in the trilogy, played by a local string quartet surrounded by thousands of candles. It lasts about an hour, and it’s co-presented by Fever and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences, and Howard Shore, the films’ composer, approved the setlist and sheet music.

Shore gave each people of Middle-earth its own musical colour, and the setlist visits most of them. Rohan’s riders gallop through “The Riders of Rohan” and “The Ride of the Rohirrim”, their theme led on the soundtrack by a Norwegian Hardanger fiddle. The Men of Gondor have “Minas Tirith” and “The Return of the King”.

Then the Elves and those who love them: “Evenstar” for Arwen and Aragorn, and “The Grey Havens” as Frodo, Bilbo and Gandalf sail away. Gollum even gets a song of his own, “Gollum’s Song”, carried here by strings rather than a voice. There are 13 pieces in all, reimagined for quartet.

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Under the walruses at the Arctic Club Hotel

On the corner of Third Avenue and Cherry Street, a block from Pioneer Square, the Arctic Club Hotel went up in the 1910s for the Arctic Club, formed by Klondike Gold Rush veterans. Look up as you arrive: a row of terracotta walrus heads lines the third floor of its cream terracotta facade. Inside, the old dining room sits under a stained-glass dome. It’s been a hotel since 2008 and a Seattle Landmark since 1993.

📍Address: 700 3rd Ave, Seattle, WA 98104