Candlelight: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics

The Seattle String Quartet plays a set of horror-themed classics at The National Nordic Museum in Ballard on Friday, October 23. The concert is called Candlelight: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics, and it does exactly what the title says: it fills the museum with thousands of flickering candles, turning the space into something haunting for the night.

The program pulls from a few different eras of horror. You'll hear themes from Stranger Things, Psycho, Halloween, The Exorcist, The Addams Family, Ghostbusters, and Michael Jackson's Thriller, along with Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The quartet plays these straight, without the original film sound design or studio effects, so you're hearing the melodies as they are. One detail the organizers point out is that John Carpenter's Halloween theme feels unsettling partly because its main motif is built around an irregular 5/4 meter.

The venue itself is worth a look even without the candles. The National Nordic Museum was designed to evoke fjords and carved ice, with sharp angles and bright, contemporary interiors shaped by generations of Nordic immigration. The candlelight changes that daytime atmosphere into something else entirely. The Seattle String Quartet is a local professional ensemble, and this is a tribute concert—not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the original artists, their estates, or official representatives.

Tickets start at $49.50. The show runs for 60 minutes, starting at 6:30 PM, with doors opening 45 minutes before and closing 5 minutes prior—late arrivals aren't permitted. Seating is assigned on a first-come, first-served basis in each zone. The venue recommends the show for ages 8 and older, and anyone under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.