String Trio for wedding in Hever, Kent

The String Quartet were recently hired to play for a wedding at the fantastic venue of Hever Castle near Edenbridge in Kent.

hever_castlevisit-britain2

As there were not a huge number of guests the bride and groom had decided that a string trio would be perfect for the ceremony and drinks reception. We were located by the side of the ceremony room as it was a very open plan part of the castle and this worked really well as we could play as the guests assembled as well as being able to have a good view of the bride as she entered, made her way to the front and got settled. She had chosen a piece that we knew well but in an arrangement that we had not heard before – Scala and Kolacny’s version of U2’s With or Without You:

We were more than happy to add this to our pop arrangements for strings as we knew it would work beautifully for her entrance, creating a really emotional atmosphere.

The other pieces chosen for the ceremony were fairly new music to our repertoire but ones that work nicely, Coldplay Sky Full Of Stars and a favourite uplifting piece for the exit, One Day Like This by Elbow.

For the remainder of the booking we continued with our modern music for string quartet as the guests enjoyed drinks and canapes.

After the date we got a lovely message from the bride, always nice to hear we have added something to a very special day!!

Hi Rachel and co, 

Sorry it's been a while, but just wanted to say thanks 
so much for the beautiful music you played at Hever for us 
on 28th April. 

We had lots of lovely comments about how nice it was to 
sit and listen to you all, and I'm truly gutted I got 
dragged round the grounds in the cold and missed most 
of your set! 

I've attached a couple of nice pics below which were taken. 
Thanks again, 

All the best 

Louise

img_0809 img_0958

 

 

2
0
October 29th, 2016|Ensembles, Events, Pop Music for Strings, Testimonials, Venues, Weddings|

String Trio for a wedding in Groombridge Place

  • setWidth800-Groombridge-pink-flowers
  • wedding-ceremony-venue-groombridge-kent

Premiere String Quartet were recently engaged to provide music for a wedding ceremony and reception in the beautiful surroundings of Groombridge Place, on the border of Kent and East Sussex. We are always pleased to perform at a venue local to us and as some of our members are based in Tunbridge Wells as well as London this venue is ideal for us to perform as a String Quartet, String Trio, String Duo or even a solo violin or cello!

Groombridge Place was voted South East England’s ‘Favourite House’ by Country Life Magazine and is world famous as the setting for the BAFTA award winning movie based on Jane Austen’s classic novel, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, featuring Keira Knightly.

The ceremony itself was held in the amazing Baronial Hall where we performed a selection of classical music for string quartet as the guests assembled.  The bride and groom’s choice of music worked really well for the ceremony, including Pachelbel Canon in D and the Flower Duet from Delibe’s “Lakme” (made famous by the British Airways advert). Often people want something upbeat for the exit but they asked for a more serene piece which worked beautifully – Haydn Serenade Op 3 No 5.

As the guests moved outside for drinks and canapes on the lawn we relocated to underneath the portico to entertain them with a mix of classical and lighter music, overlooking a couple of amazing vintage cars belonging to the relatives of the bride. After the guests returned to the Baronial Hall to continue the day we packed away and prepared for the 10 minute drive home – an unusual but welcome finish to the booking!

 

 

 

 

1
0
October 25th, 2016|Ensembles, Venues, Weddings|

Recording String Section in Kingston, London

The String Quartet were recently asked to work with a producer we know well, Jim Hawkins at his studio near London. We have done several projects with him previously and this was a very special one as he asked to provide a string section on a track for the Missing People Charity, involving singers from across the decades including The Missing People choir, which is made up of families with missing loved ones, Rick Astley, Chesney Hawkes, Nik Kershaw, Carol Decker, Lesley Garrett, Hayley Tamaddon, Jodie Prenger, Debra Stephenson, Kerry Ellis, Balsamo Deighton and G4.

The original song, ‘I Hope’ was inspired by the words of Kevin Gosden whose son Andrew went missing at the age of 14 in 2007 and highlights the heartbreak facing families with missing loved ones, and the often agonising hope of seeing them again.

‘I Hope’ is available to buy now on Itunes, Google Play and Amazon following its release on Friday 20 May ahead of International Missing Children’s Day (25 May) with profits going to the charity Missing People’s ‘Find Every Child’ campaign. An average of 140,000 children go missing in the UK every year and the campaign is aiming to be able to reach every one of them.

As we have done before we used some layering of parts to create a bigger effect, enabling the charity single to get the full sound of a string section using less players. This is a technique which can be used to enable you to get a much richer fuller sound with fewer instumentalists, perhaps recording with a String Quartet.

We have recently finished working on another track for Jim, more details available soon.

If you need strings on your track or album don’t hesitate to contact us.

2
0
October 24th, 2016|About us, Pop Music for Strings, Recording|