Danny Whitehead and Rachel Roper sing Phantom, Les Mis and The Sound of Music by candlelight at St Nicholas Church. Two 60-minute concerts, 6pm and 8pm, tickets £25 to £45.
This is a sponsored feature for Music in Action, the charity behind the West End Classics concerts. Tickets are on Eventbrite.
A West End leading man and an award-winning young mezzo-soprano are coming to Sevenoaks for one night in October, and the setting is the town’s oldest building. On Friday 23 October St Nicholas Church on Rectory Lane hosts West End Classics, a candlelit programme of the best-known numbers from musical theatre and opera, sung twice in one evening.
Who is singing
Danny Whitehead played Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera and toured the world in Les Misérables, the organisers say. Rachel Roper was MOCSA Young Welsh Singer of the Year, is a Glyndebourne Jerwood Artist, and was a finalist in the 2026 Kathleen Ferrier Awards. They are accompanied by the strings of the Celonatius Ensemble.
The programme takes in The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables and The Sound of Music, with more from the Rodgers and Hammerstein songbook. Expect the songs everyone knows, sung by people who have performed them for a living.
Two concerts, one evening
Each performance lasts an hour, and the evening runs twice:
- Concert 1: 6pm to 7pm
- Concert 2: 8pm to 9pm
They are separate concerts with separate tickets, so choose the sitting that suits you. The church is a compact venue and each sitting has a limited number of seats, which is why the organisers expect the earlier dates to sell first.
Tickets
Standard tickets are £25 to £45 depending on where you sit, the organisers say. VIP tickets, single or double, add a glass of champagne in the VIP area and the chance to meet the performers after the show. Everything is booked through Eventbrite, where the full list of ticket types and current availability is shown.
Where the money goes
Music in Action is a charity that puts on concerts to fund music education for children who would not otherwise get it. Its own figures for 2025-26 list 151 workshops in 21 schools, 74 children given bursaries to learn a classical instrument, and care-home sessions for more than 90 residents. It began working in England in 2025, and this autumn it is running a programme of free singing workshops for schools in Kent, starting in Tunbridge Wells. Ticket money from the Sevenoaks concerts supports that work.
Getting there
St Nicholas Church is at the top of the High Street on Rectory Lane, TN13 1JA, a ten-minute walk from Sevenoaks station. For parking, see our guide to parking in Sevenoaks.
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