If you have ever wondered what Metallica sounds like played by 14 classical musicians by candlelight, December 10th is your answer. The Rock Orchestra By Candlelight is coming to the Stanley Theatre in Utica — and this is one of those shows where the production and the venue are both worth the drive.
About The Rock Orchestra By Candlelight
The concept is this: a rotating collective of classical musicians — rhinestone-masked, candlelit, performing at full rock concert sound levels — spends 90 minutes tearing through the biggest rock and metal tracks of the last four decades. Metallica, AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Linkin Park, Evanescence, The Cranberries, Papa Roach, My Chemical Romance, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith. Not acoustic covers — a full theatrical production with walls of distortion and an orchestra behind it.
The Rock Orchestra By Candlelight started in the UK and Europe, and after entertaining more than 700,000 guests worldwide, it is back in the USA for 2026. The staging commits hard: crooked lurching towers, floating lanterns, giant headbanging puppets. Strobe lights, smoke, and haze are in play. Recommended for ages 14 and up, and not affiliated with the original artists — it is its own singular thing and fully owns that.
About The Stanley Theatre
The Stanley Theatre earns the drive by itself. Opened September 10, 1928, and designed by architect Thomas Lamb — the same Thomas Lamb behind the Fox Theatre in San Francisco and the Capitol Theatre in New York — the Stanley seats 2,963 and has the bones to make a theatrical production like this hit completely differently than it would in a smaller room.
It is also one of only three surviving Lamb-designed theaters in Upstate New York, alongside Proctors in Schenectady and the Landmark in Syracuse. If you have not been inside it, that is enough reason to show up early on December 10th and spend some time with the room before the candles go down.
Tickets
The Rock Orchestra By Candlelight plays the Stanley Theatre on Thursday, December 10, 2026 at 8:00 PM. Tickets are available via the link below.