Available Ensembles
Different instrumental groups to suit every occasion and budget
Photograph
by Team Thomson Photography
We offer the following combinations for your wedding or special occasion :-
solo clarsach
string duo and clarsach
string trio
string quartet
flute trio
flute quartet
Scroll this page or click on the links above for more information on each of these combinations. It's also worth checking our Listen and Repertoire pages.
String Quartet
A string quartet consists of two violins, a viola and a cello, and is the most flexible ensemble that we offer. It has a huge repertoire and is ideally suited to all the genres of music that you can find on our Repertoire page.
String Trio
A string trio consists of one each of violin, viola and cello, and in these economically fragile times may be a good choice. Although the trio cannot fully compete with a quartet for depth of tone or breadth of repertoire, it comes close in both respects - check our Listen and Repertoire pages - and naturally enough is significantly cheaper to hire. (We would be delighted to provide both trio and quartet quotes for your event in order to help you decide.)
Flute Quartet - Trio
A flute quartet consists of a flute, violin, viola and cello while a flute trio is made up of a flute, cello and a violin or viola. (When we play as a flute trio we usually play music for flute,viola and cello but with the viola player occasionally playing the violin instead.)
The tonal brilliance of the flute complements the more mellow sound of the strings beautifully, and this combination of instruments is particularly suited to larger events - check our Listen page to hear a sound clip. Nearly all of our string quartet / trio repertoire can also be played by a flute quartet / trio - check our Repertoire page for details - and the cost of booking a flute quartet / trio is exactly the same as for booking a string quartet / trio.
String Duo and Clarsach
Allestri can also offer two musicians playing various combinations of violin, viola and clarsach (a traditional scottish harp). Violin with viola is the most pleasing and versatile string duo combination as they are well matched melody instruments and the viola is also able to provide a convincing bass line.
Caroline, our violinist, also studied harp at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and so is able to play the clarsach either solo or accompanying another instrument, and Julian, our viola player, also plays the violin. So, for the price of hiring two musicians, we can offer four distinct instrumental combinations :- violin and viola, solo clarsach, clarsach and violin, and clarsach and viola. We hope you agree that this represents a lot of "bang for your buck" ! Please be aware though that our repertoire is for the time being restricted mainly to classical and folk numbers, and that we are currently only offering this option for pre-ceremony and ceremony.
Solo Clarsach
The most reasonably priced offering we have is for solo clarsach to play for pre-ceremony and ceremony. Caroline's clarsach is a highly distinctive model with a wonderful carrying sound and is one of only three made by master craftsman, Mark Norris.