From Matthew Agnew’s opening cello line, we know this arrangement is going to be something really special. Our Chicago pop string quartet Artistrings had a blast recording this one. From our homes, in quarantine. If rock is your thing and you’re planning a party, this is perfect cocktail hour music.
Katherine Hughes, violin
Carol Kalvonjian, violin
Benton Wedge, viola & arrangement
Matthew Agnew, cello
Continuing on with our Artistrings-from-home quarantine series, we decided to dive into this Led Zeppelin tune for fun. Our Chicago pop string quartet loves a challenge! As soon as we recorded it, we got three different requests from our clients to add this to their cocktail selections list. We love personalizing the wedding music for our couples. Can’t wait to play it live this weekend!
Katherine Hughes, violin
Carol Kalvonjian, violin
Benton Wedge, viola & arrangement
Matthew Agnew, cello
One of our wonderful couples asked us for this rock tune, and our Chicago string quartet just couldn’t resist! (Great idea, Michelle & Eric!) Including Michelle/Beatles for her walk down the aisle was also the best idea ever. That’s a story for another day though. Continuing on with our quarantine video series from Artistrings, here is David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World. We love it for prelude music as your guests are arriving, or for cocktail receptions. If rock string quartet tunes are your thing, stay tuned for the next several weeks. We’ve got some fun ideas coming your way!
Carol Kalvonjian – violin
Katherine Hughes, violin
Benton Wedge, viola & arrangement
Matthew Agnew – cello
So, the Artistrings Chicago string quartet has been busy recording a series of quarantine videos. It was a super challenging and very fun project to record these string quartet covers of rock and alternative tunes. We can’t wait for the day when it’s super safe to play together up close and in person again. For now, this will have to do. Here’s our tribute to The Smashing Pumpkins. Go Chicago!
From day one, Kristina & Kevin’s infectious energy was such a joy to us. We loved their choice of the new venue Rockwell on the River, and our Chicago wedding band couldn’t wait to fill those walls with music!
Beautiful weather allowed us an outdoor ceremony on the river, with the Artistrings quartet setting an elegant romantic mood. Expert coordination and many thanks to Dana from Clementine Custom Events. Here we are, set up and ready to go, before the guests arrived. See? Gorgeous.
The grandparents, parents, and bridesmaids made their entrance to The Swan/Saint-Saens, while Kristina & her dad floated down the aisle to Debussy’s Clair De Lune. Their music choices were a breath of fresh air on a lovely day. The end of the ceremony introduced the married couple to Higher & Higher/Jackie Wilson, which definitely set the tone for the rest of the night.
While everyone was enjoying cocktails in one segment of the room, the band was ready to go behind the curtain. Hi all!
And the tables? Gorgeous, again 🙂
Starting out, here’s some instrumental jazz to draw guests in from cocktails:
Kristina & Kevin chose to have a New York style reception, which means that they danced a bit between courses. When we opened for dinner, we started the evening off high energy with the full Carol Sarlas Orchestra, which was SO much fun! The bride & groom were introduced to Footloose, which is Kevin’s signature song, and everyone knew it! We all danced to a couple of tunes, and then everyone gathered around for their first dance, Hey Jude. We really can’t imagine a more perfect beginning to this celebration:
Once dinner service began, we played a lot of conversation-friendly music with different segments of the band. Our vocalists took turns singing ballads during dinner service. We love hearing Thair sing this one:
And, there’s a time and a place for groovy instrumental tunes too 🙂
Dancing later in the night was the absolute best.
Kristina & Kevin, your words on Wedding Wire mean the world to us. Hugs all around!
“Sarlas Music exceeded all expectations!
Working with Sarlas Music was one of my favorite experiences from the entire wedding planning process. From our very first meeting, we were confident we made the right decision. It was important for us to maintain a dance party from beginning to end, which is exactly what we had. Chris and Carol listened to all of our ideas and requests, and provided wonderful suggestions, too – proving that they’re truly experts at what they do. We received numerous compliments from our guests, and kept the dance floor packed all night long. Best. Band. Ever!”
