Next??? - sexy string quartet, please stand up...

By -

Escala is coming...

They performed on Britain's Got Talent but didn't quit win. However, Simon Cowell has taken them on board with intentions of making them world famous. According to their old blog, they are currently traveling - around the world arriving in Bali on the 6th of October.

Are they new??? Well, yes, they are a new group. But the concept of four leggy women playing string quartet music isn't new. Bond, four girls from Australia (not to be confused with Bond Girls, scantly dress women who appear in James Bond films - although any of these women could step into that role) debuted their first album in 2001. Siren are four women who are graduates of the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music in London, serious musicians with their world tour back in 2006. Eclipse is a group of four men who graduated from Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Royal College of Music in 2005 and have been touring ever since.

This isn't to say the women of Escala aren't serious musicians. Victoria studied at the Royal College of Music and became the youngest member of the Royal Philharmonic after she graduated. Tasya went to the Yehudi Menuhin School for musically gifted children and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and was briefly a member of the London Symphony Orchestra. Chantalwon a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music.

Their style, classical music with a beat, and more. Tasya says 'There is nothing wrong with crossover (a blend of classical and pop)...but we're looking for any music that can be done in an instrumental way.'

A little resarch on the web and a host of "sexy" female quartets pop up. Bellatrix is a female string quartet from Korea with several videos on YouTube. Other groups include Oreos String Quartet, Just Strings, performing since 1990, Highly Strung, performing since 1990 - and these are just the top of the pile from groups performing in the UK.

So, what's really new about Escala? They have serious financial backing and they're the latest group to appear on the scene. How successful will they be? Their album is out in 2009, so we'll see.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more