String Quartet for Party in Eastbourne

It’s always nice to play some music to add atmosphere to a party – usually we are booked at the beginning of an evening event to prevent any “dead air” as the first guests arrive and create a transition to the later part of the evening with some of our lighter music and pop arrangements for strings. This particular evening was no exception – we were booked as a full string quartet to begin the evening’s entertainment for a 60th birthday party at the  Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

intro-club intro-rss

As we arrived the band were finishing their sound check – allowing us to set up in plenty of time to begin as the first guests arrived. We had been asked to play the full range of our repertoire so began with some well known classical pieces. These included Pachelbel Canon in D, Mozart’s fantastic Divertimenti, and some of our new arrangements of Vivaldi Concertos. Moving through our repertoire we played Tangos, Show Tunes, Gershwin numbers and more, leading to some of our new contemporary songs arranged for string quartet. John Legend, Coldplay, Clean Bandit, Katy Perry, Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams all featured in our set. As the band got ready to play we played a special classical arrangement of Happy Birthday. The party was in full swing as we left – only wishing we could stay and enjoy the fun!

2
0
June 14th, 2016|Birthday Parties, Ensembles, Events, Pop Music for Strings, Venues|

String Trio at Mountains, Hildenborough

Premiere String Quartet recently performed for a fantastic wedding ceremony and drinks reception at Mountains Country House in Hildenborough, Kent. It was a relatively local wedding for us as we are based in Tunbridge Wells. Hidden away behind Hildenborough station this is a really stunning venue with a permanent marquee to hold the wedding breakfast. We arrived very early to rehearse some special requests for the ceremony, including The Balcony Scene from Romeo and Juliet by Craig Armstrong which the bride really wanted to walk in to. We have been asked to arrange pieces especially on many occasions and the couple were great film music fans – more about this later!

Following the ceremony we moved through to the bar area as guests milled about both inside and outside but with a lovely acoustic the music carried very well. At this point we moved on to some of our more popular songs for string trio. We have recently updated out repertoire list to include a lot more contemporary string arrangements and could include something for everyone! As the drinks reception due to a close we relocated to the marquee to play some music for the wedding breakfast. We played the guests in and then accompanied the bride and groom’s entrance with All You Need is Love. It was now time to focus on the couple’s requests for Movie Music arranged for Strings including Star Wars, Jurassic Park and some Disney arrangements. It was a really lovely wedding and a chance for us to try out lots of our new pop songs for string quartet mountains@2x2. mountains_country_house_marquee_country_wedding_venue_kent_3

2
0
May 25th, 2016|Ensembles, Events, Pop Music for Strings, Venues, Weddings|

Your Kent Wedding – Wedding of the Year

We were delighted to find out recently that one of our couples from 2015, Lucie and Steve have beaten off hundreds of other entries, for their wedding to be judged as UK Wedding of the year 2015!

Their wedding was held at Lympne Castle in Kent in May last year. Although we were not performing at the ceremony we were ready to entertain the guests when they arrived at the venue for drinks. We then moved to the dining hall for the meal which had experiments, a skeleton and petri dishes galore!

A video available here featuring Premiere String Quartet:

 

1
0
May 9th, 2016|About us, Events, Weddings|

String Duo in Kent

On Sunday Premiere String Quartet were booked to provide a String Duo for a special birthday lunch at one of our favourite venues, the Spa Hotel, Tunbridge Wells. A total of 35 people attended this lovely occasion which was held in the Yorke Suite. The string duo provided ample sound for the numbers in attendance and a larger ensemble may have been too much sound for the occasion. We had been asked by the client to provide a mixture of music from across our entire repertoire as there were people of all ages attending so we began with some of our classical arrangements for Viola and Cello including Massenet’s Meditation. As the party moved over for lunch changed to some of our new pop music for strings, concluding with some modern pop arrangements for strings including music by John Legend and Clean Bandit.

  • 20160313_130610
  • Premiere String Quartet Kent
1
0
March 14th, 2016|Birthday Parties, Ensembles, Events|

Pop Songs for String Duo

We have added some more arrangements of pop music for string duo ensemble. Included are the following string arrangements of pop songs –

Eric Clapton “Wonderful Tonight”
Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne “Rather Be”
Coldplay “Clocks”
“Viva la Vida”
Goo Goo Dolls “Iris”
Ellie Goulding “Love Me Like You Do” (from the movie Fifty Shades of Grey)
John Legend “All of Me”
Jason Mraz “I’m Yours”
Muse “Starlight”
Katy Perry “Unconditionally”
Ed Sheeran “Thinking Out Loud”
Sting “Fields of Gold”
FILM SCORE John Williams Jurassic Park Main Titles
FILM SCORE Star Wars Main Titles

 

Check out our videos of the String Duo

Please do have a look at our main site, Premiere String Quartet to think about hiring a string quartet for your wedding, party or corporate event. We have one of the largest collections of repertoire available so can  tailor our setlist to suit your event.

1
0
March 11th, 2016|About us, Corporate Events, Ensembles, Events, Pop Music for Strings, Weddings|

Wedding String Trio in Hever Castle, Kent

images-1

Premiere String Trio played for Claire and Chris’s wedding at Hever Castle in Kent. The wedding ceremony was performed in a local church within the village and then the drinks reception was held in the grounds of Hever in the Italian Loggia which is situated by the lake. It was a beautiful setting for a wedding. The Wedding String Trio set up early in the church Claire had chosen some fantastic pieces for the string trio to play as all the guests arrived at the church. Pieces included Flower Duet, Delibes and Air on a G String, J.S Bach. For Claire’s entrance into the church the string trio performed Canon in D, Pachelbel. After the service the couple signed the register and piece they requested the string trio to perform was O Mio Babbino Caro by Puccini. This was significant to the couple as they were engaged in Venice, Italy. After the ceremony was concluded the couple walked back down the aisle to Spring from Four Seasons, Vivaldi. This piece was long enough for Claire and Chris and all their guests to exit the church. The wedding string trio packed away and moved to the Italian Loggia in the grounds of Hever Casle just 1 mile away. Due to pictures being taken outside the church the String Trio were able to move venues and set up ready to play as the first guests to arrive at the Loggia in the ground of Hever Castle. The repertoire changed to lighter classical and Latin music including La Bamba and Tango por una Cabeza and also pop arrangements including Coldplay, Beatles and Sinatra. The String Trio played up until all the guests were called into dinner.

images-2

1
0
September 29th, 2013|About us, Ensembles, Events, Weddings|

Recording in Kingston, London

Premeire String Duo were delighted to be involved in a recording project with sound engineer and studio owner Jim Hawkins. His professional studio is located in Kingston. The String Duo were hired to play string parts to enhance a track created by David Bromley. With only two instruments, our String Duo we were able to create a large string sound. Originally the parts were written for string quartet, 2 violins, viola and cello, this was over-dubbed to create a full string orchestra sound. Jim arranged the strings parts for the duo so as soon as we arrived in the studios we were able to start recording.

Further information about Jim Hawkins and his studio can be found on his website; http://james-hawkins-music.co.uk/

0
0
September 16th, 2013|About us, Ensembles, Events, Performances, Recording, Uncategorized|

Wedding String duo in Chiddingstone Castle

images

Premiere String Duo played at a wedding yesterday at Chiddingstone Castle for Elaine and Jack. The weather was grey and rainy but this did not effect the lovely atmosphere of the wedding. Chiddingston Castle has a beautiful Orangery where the ceremony was being held. The String Duo performed well-known classical pieces as everyone arrived, Air on a G String, Pachelbel Canon in D and Flower duet. These were all pieces the bride had selected before hand. The Orangery is in the ground of the castle which is a beautiful setting for a wedding, it has a glass roof which protected the guests and musicians from the rain. After the ceremony the guests moved into the castle for the drinks reception. The string duo played a mixture of classical and pop arrangements including Coldplay Scientist, What a wonderful world, Greatest Day take that, Make you feel your love and rolling the deep by Adele.The Wedding String Duo concluded their music when all the guests went into the wedding breakfast.

0
0
September 14th, 2013|About us, Ensembles, Events, Weddings|

A Wedding in Newnham College, Cambridge

sidgwick_jc_small.jpg-cb8560dbdf6bc8ad587c0bec3993e57d[350x227]Premiere String Trio performed at Kelly and Hindley’s wedding on Saturday in Cambridge. The wedding was held in Newnham College, Cambridge. The wedding ceremony was performed inside one of the buildings and the drinks reception within the fantastic grounds of the college. Cambridge University has some wonderful colleges perfect for a wedding, the grounds are always beautifully kept. Before the ceremony the string trio performed a variety of classical repertoire including Pachelbel Canon in D, Vivaldi Spring and an arrangement of Nimrod from Enigma Variation. We have adapted a lot of string repertoire to work well for String Trio so you can get an ensemble that projects well but for a more reasonable cost. In the drinks reception we continued with Classical pieces on request from the bride and guests in the wedding. The String Trio performed pieces by Vivaldi,Telemann, J.S Bach and Elgar. We have recently arranged Brandenburg Concerto’s for string trio and Vivaldi Violin Concerto for string trio.

0
0
September 10th, 2013|About us, Ensembles, Events, Weddings|

Wedding at Gravetye Manor

Premiere String Duo performed at Gravetye Manor in West Hoathly, West Sussex last weekend for Emily and Russell’s wedding. The weather was bright and sunny perfect for this spring wedding. The guests arrived early into the ceremony room where we performed a selection of classical pieces including Pachelbel Canon, Elgar Salut d’Amour and Handel’s water music. The bride walked down the aisle to Faure’s Pavane and we played 2nd movement of Double Violin Concerto by J.S Bach arranged for Viola and cello and Romanza from Eine Kleine Nachmusik for the signing of the register. After the ceremony the newly married couple exited the ceremony room to La Rejouissance from The Royal Fireworks by Handel. The weather was beautiful so we were able to move easily into the gardens for their drinks reception, we were able to find a shaded spot perfect to protect our instruments. We then played a selection of pop music including an arrangement of Your Song by Elton John, No woman No Cry by Bob Marley and our new arrangement of Rolling In the Deep by Adele. A few days later we received this wonderful testimonial from the couple

Thank you Martin & Rachel for playing for us and keeping our guests entertained throughout our drinks reception. Everyone commented on how fantastic you both are. We were ever so fortunate to find such a fabulous, talented Duo and would highly recommend you for any event.
Emily & Russell Flowers

IMG_0698

IMG_0699

0
0
April 25th, 2013|About us, Ensembles, Events, Testimonials, Weddings|