By Coral Gables Gazette staff
Few works in classical music carry the seasonal pulse of human life as vividly as Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. This weekend, those concertos will be heard in Coral Gables in a setting designed to amplify their drama: a candlelit ballroom in the Hotel Colonnade. The performance, part of the global Candlelight Concerts series, begins at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 23, with tickets priced at $62.50.
Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” reimagined in candlelight
The conceit of Candlelight Concerts is simple but potent. By filling grand spaces with hundreds of flickering candles, the series seeks to alter how audiences encounter familiar works. The format has gained international attention, reframing classical repertoire as immersive, multisensory experience rather than as distant recital. For Coral Gables, hosting such a program signals both cultural appetite and civic ambition: to treat historic architecture not only as backdrop but as an active participant in performance.
Music that crosses centuries and cultures
At the center of the evening is Vivaldi’s cycle of violin concertos, each written to capture a different season of the year. Composed in the early 18th century, The Four Seasons remains a rare example of music that bridges popular recognition with technical sophistication. The opening violin figures of “Spring” are instantly recognizable, but beneath the familiarity lies ingenious writing that mimics thunderstorms, harvests, and winter frosts.
The program broadens beyond Vivaldi to include works that echo or reimagine his influence. Jules Massenet’s Méditation from Thaïs offers a moment of lyric repose, a counterpoint to Vivaldi’s vigorous energy. Max Richter’s Recomposed: Vivaldi – Spring 3 places the baroque master in conversation with modern minimalism, layering repetition and electronics over the familiar themes. The inclusion of Astor Piazzolla’s Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas and Libertango translates the cycle into tango idiom and reminds audiences that music about time and change belongs to every culture.
The Colonnade as stage
Performing this eclectic mix is the Listeso String Quartet, an ensemble that has become closely associated with the Candlelight series. Their approach emphasizes clarity and immediacy, suited to a format where proximity matters as much as virtuosity. With seating arranged by zone and on a first-come basis, the evening encourages intimacy — the sense of being not in a concert hall but in a shared chamber where candlelight softens the formality of performance.
Candlelight’s expansion into Coral Gables also carries local significance. The Colonnade Hotel, a landmark on Miracle Mile, has long symbolized the city’s blend of Mediterranean Revival architecture and civic elegance. Using its halls as concert venues underscores a broader trend in cultural programming: activating architectural heritage in ways that invite contemporary audiences. Where once such spaces might have hosted banquets or civic ceremonies, they now serve as stages where centuries-old music converses with present-day sensibilities.
An evening both intimate and grand
The format appeals across generations. Families are welcome, with an age minimum of eight, and the concise 65-minute program ensures accessibility. For longtime concertgoers, the attraction is the recontextualization of familiar music; for younger audiences, it is the chance to encounter classical works in an atmosphere that feels immersive rather than forbidding. The candlelight setting strips away some of the distance often associated with symphonic halls and instead suggests that great works can be encountered up close, almost face to face.
The enduring appeal of The Four Seasons is that it speaks to cycles everyone knows — growth and decline, warmth and chill, joy and loss. By placing that music within the glow of candlelight, the performance offers not only beauty but recognition: that art, like life, is seasonal, and that its repetition carries meaning. As the final notes of “Winter” fade within the Colonnade, audiences may feel both transported and grounded, aware that the passage of time is at once universal and deeply personal.
Tickets remain available, but seating is limited. For those who attend, the promise is an evening where music, architecture, and atmosphere converge — a reminder that even familiar works can be heard anew when light, space, and sound align.
