Tim Burton's Universe by Mystery Ensemble

Mystery Ensemble are bringing Tim Burton's Universe to Stoke Minster on Saturday 31 October, the night before Halloween. It's a concert built around the music of Tim Burton's films, with Danny Elfman at the centre. Elfman has been Burton's lifelong collaborator and is one of the most distinctive film composers of our time; his scoring blends playfulness with menace and tenderness with grandeur.

The programme runs through a wide stretch of that cinematic universe. You'll hear 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 in unique arrangements. It's a fair bit of ground to cover in one sitting, and the set pulls from both the early, gothic-leaning work and the more recent, whimsical stuff.

Mystery Ensemble was founded in 2021 by Almin Alexander and is a group of professional musicians that performs in non-standard venues around the world, drawing on film and TV soundtracks, neoclassical music and the classics. They describe this particular evening as a live theatrical experience rather than a mere soundtrack concert, with soaring voices and bold instrumental colours. Staging it in the atmospheric setting of Stoke Minster fits the bill, especially with the date falling on Halloween's eve.

It's a one-hour show, running from 6:30pm to 7:30pm, with tickets starting from £19. The venue is Stoke Minster on Glebe Street, ST4 1LP.