Tim Burton's Universe by Mystery Ensemble

Mystery Ensemble are bringing Tim Burton's Universe to St George's Church on Saturday 31 October, a night that takes the music of Tim Burton's films and puts it in a live setting. The set draws on a long list of his work: Alice in Wonderland, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Beetlejuice, Batman and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. All of them share the same composer, Danny Elfman, Burton's lifelong collaborator and one of the most distinctive film composers of our time.

Behind the music is Mystery Ensemble, a group of professional musicians who tour unique programmes in non-standard venues across the UK. They work with experimental music, tributes and world soundtracks, and they perform using the composer's own arrangements rather than their own versions. The concert is built on soaring voices and bold instrumental colours, so you'll hear the vocal side of these scores as much as the orchestral one.

It's a wide-ranging programme that covers a lot of ground. You've got the gothic, whimsical side of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride alongside the darker, more theatrical Sweeney Todd and the driving energy of Batman. Because it's all Elfman, there's a common thread running through them, but the mood shifts from one film to the next. The ensemble plays the arrangements as they were written, so the music stays close to how it sounds on screen.

It's a Saturday night in Brighton, and the date—31 October—fits the whole thing. The concert starts at 7:30pm at St George's Church, and tickets are £20.