Candlelight Brings Hans Zimmer to The Common Room

Candlelight: The Best of Hans Zimmer at The Common Room brings a string quartet programme of film music to Newcastle on Saturday 19 September. The concert starts at 6.30pm in Wood Hall, with Aurora String Quartet performing a set built around some of Zimmer’s best-known scores.

The programme moves across several different eras of his film work rather than focusing on a single franchise. Pirates of the Caribbean appears alongside Gladiator, Dune, Top Gun: Maverick, The Lion King, Batman, Wonder Woman, Dunkirk and Inception. That gives the evening plenty of contrast, from large-scale action themes to slower pieces where the quartet can lean into the detail of the arrangements.

## Candlelight: The Best of Hans Zimmer at The Common Room

The Common Room is a strong setting for this kind of show because Wood Hall already has the sense of occasion that Candlelight tries to create. Rather than a standard amplified gig, the emphasis is on the room, the strings and the atmosphere created by the candlelit staging.

Aurora String Quartet are handling the performance, and the concert is scheduled to last around 65 minutes. Doors open 45 minutes before the performance and close five minutes before the start, so this is one where arriving early matters. The age guidance is 8+, with under-16s accompanied by an adult.

There is enough range in the programme to make the evening work for people who know Zimmer’s scores inside out as well as those who simply recognise the big themes. Inception’s Time is likely to be one of the obvious centrepieces, while Gladiator and The Lion King should give the quartet room to show a softer side.

Candlelight: The Best of Hans Zimmer takes place at The Common Room on Saturday 19 September 2026 at 6.30pm.

Check The Common Room and ticketing channels before travelling in case of any late changes to timings or entry information.