A 400‑year‑old church in the heart of Covent Garden is set to become the backdrop for a new immersive classical music experience this October, as Lamplight Concerts transforms St Paul’s, the Actors’ Church, into a landscape of colour, light and live performance.
The project is the creation of American mezzo‑soprano Rachel Payne, who performs alongside British pianist Jack Tyndale‑Biscoe as Duo Atlantis. Over four evenings, audiences will be invited into an hour‑long performance designed to blend art song with atmospheric lighting and installation design.
The church, built in 1633 and long associated with London’s theatrical history, will be reimagined with bespoke lamps and dynamic lighting created by Neil Darcy of The Prop Making Company and Offie‑nominated designer Peter Small.
A new approach to classical performance
Payne, who trained at the Manhattan School of Music and in Vienna, says Lamplight Concerts aims to offer an alternative to the increasingly digital way audiences consume music.
“So much of how we listen now happens in isolation,” she said. “Lamplight is the opposite: a room full of colourful and dynamic light, with voice and piano, raw and earnest. Nothing between you and the music.”
Payne, who is also the Artistic Director of Lamplight Concerts, describes the project as an invitation into her “musical and figurative home”.
Tyndale‑Biscoe, a Royal College of Music graduate whose performances include a sold‑out debut at the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room, says the duo’s mission is to bring renewed attention to art song.
“Art song is our Atlantis — a whole lost world of music worth rediscovering,” he said. “To bring it into a space like the Actors’ Church, by lamplight, for an audience close enough to hear every breath, is exactly the kind of live, human experience we set out to make.”
Duo Atlantis
Formed in London in 2024, Duo Atlantis have already performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, King’s Place in London, the Musikverein in Vienna, Salle Cortot in Paris and the Rudolfinum in Prague. Their debut album, recorded at Abbey Road Studios, is due for release in 2027 and will include selections from Elgar’s Sea Pictures — a nod to Elgar’s own historic recording in Abbey Road’s Studio 1 in 1931.
Event details
Lamplight Concerts will take place on 2, 8, 14 (relaxed performance) and 22 October 2026, with tickets priced at £20 (£10 concessions). Seating is unreserved and the running time is approximately one hour.
European dates have also been announced.
Tickets are available at: https://actorschurch.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873664648
