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albums and YouTube videos
reveals an astonishing level
of stylistic eclecticism and
virtuosity, from fresh-spir-
ited traversals of Mozart’s
Eine kleine Nachtmusik
and
Vivaldi’s
Four Seasons
to enve-
lope-pushing fusions of Grieg’s
First String Quartet with Miley
Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” and
the down-home vocals of “ e
Devil Went Down to Georgia”
merged with bits of Bach
.
Lis-
ten to that last one and try to
keep your feet still. “We don’t
stick to any one genre,” Bagnell
explains, “We pull from both
a wide breadth of pop and
a wide breadth of classical.
We respond to music we like.
Good music is good music,
and if something speaks to our
instrumentation and voices,
we go for it.”
e ensemble’s artistic soul
is probably best displayed in
the pop–classical mashups
they have amusingly dubbed
“popssicals.” “Our rst popssi-
cal was Kelly Clarkson mashed
with
Eine kleine Nachtmusik
.
ey had a similar energy,”
Bagnell remembers. “We have
another with Taylor Swi and
Aaron Copland. ere was
such joy in the Copland piece
and fun in the Taylor Swi .”
Sometimes their choices jux-
tapose in unexpected ways, as
in a marvelous amalgam of the
Bach/Gounod
Ave Maria
with
Radiohead’s “Creep.” “We look
for thematic elements, like this
deeply religious music mashed
up with ‘Creep
,’
where a guy
speaks about an unattain-
able woman with this almost
obsessive, worshiping quality.
ey just kind of spoke to each
other.”
Along the way, they have
enjoyed some intriguing inter-
faces with American culture.
“Chelsea’s Mom,” their tribute
to Hillary Clinton, gained
huge notoriety when Clinton
herself tweeted out the music
video. Marchant and Wadleigh
were even featured on
e
Amazing Race
, participating
as Team Well-Strung. e lads
are obviously classically attrac-
tive, and their hunk factor is
invariably mentioned in their
press. So is the term “open-
ly gay” (a rather antiquated
expression that really should
be kicked to the curb with
the shag carpeting). “We are
proud of who we are,” Bagnell
a rms, “and if it does some-
thing positive for the national
discussion, that is a good
thing. It’s a sound bite for the
media, but it’s not a hallmark
of who we are as a group. Our
music can appeal to every-
one. Certainly, we have a gay
following, but we are very
family-friendly; Grandma likes
us, the grandkids like us, and
everyone in between.” It’s this
appeal that brings Well-Strung
to Ravinia’s Martin eatre on
June , as well as to Chica-
go’s Center on Halsted for a
music-and-conversation event
in association with the festival
on the preceding night.
Well-Strung is passionate
about music education, and
their popularity has gone
some distance in bringing new
listeners to classical repertoire.
“Many people who come to
see us are hearing classical
music live for the rst time.
ere’s nothing bad about that;
it’s a centuries-old art form.
We get a lovely reaction. Some
will come back and say, ‘My
favorite thing was that classical
piece you did.’ at’s really
cool. It’s hard to break that
barrier. But classical music
is just good music, and if it’s
presented in a more accessible
way, it’s easier to hear that.”
At Ravinia, Well-Strung
will be treating the audience to
a preview of music that is soon
to be featured on the quar-
tet’s third album. And Well-
Strung’s genre-defying style is
what Ravinia is all about. “We
are thrilled to come,” Bagnell
concludes, “It’s lovely to be in-
cluded with all these wonder-
ful artists. And we want people
to walk away saying they had a
really good time.”
Mark Thomas Ketterson is the Chicago
correspondent for
Opera News
. He has
also written for the
Chicago Tribune
,
Playbill
,
Chicago
magazine, Lyric
Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand
Opera, and Washington National
Opera at the Kennedy Center.
Classical music is just good music, and
if it’s presented in an accessible way,
it’s easier to hear that.
“
”
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JUNE 18 – JULY 8, 2018
16