Why book South Downs Strings for your event?

There are so many string quartets available for hire so why should you book South Downs Strings for your event? What sets South Downs Strings apart from other string quartets?

In order to answer these questions, you simply need to ask the violinists, violists and cellists who work for South Downs Strings. In their careers, they work with a number of other string groups and they tell me why they are relieved to be working with South Downs Strings.

We take it as a huge compliment that musicians notice the difference when they play for a South Downs Strings event.  Here are a few examples of things the players have told us over the years: 

“You run a tight ship” 

“I was so relieved I was working with South Downs Strings today, yesterday‘s gig with another group was so stressful. All the information came at the last minute and the charts arrived at different times”

“You’re always organised”

Being organised is probably the single biggest reason that South Downs Strings has become so successful in recent years. It is a given that the quality of music and presentation are superb.  Our abilities to coordinate the musicians and convey the correct information to our players all ensure that events run as smoothly as possible.

Good organisation allows our musicians to play for the event knowing all the facts: the start and finish times, what we’re going to be playing, and to see a complete set of parts. 

We do everything we can ahead of the event to ensure our musicians can give you their best performance on the day for your event. Experience tells us it’s easiest to do this if they have everything they need and feel well looked after.

Behind the scenes you’ll find a well-run office. An efficient client focused business that is always seeking to refine its processes. When a business is well organised this allows more time to be spent on creating music.

“You pay well” 


That might surprise you. It’s a core feature of our business that not only do we look after our musicians on the day, but also we endeavour to pay them a fair wage.  We aim to be one of those companies that has ethical work practices and that very much extends to the musicians who play for us. 

Each year the Musicians Union recommends a base rate for all the types of work that musicians do. We endeavour to adhere to the Musicians Union recommended rate of pay. All too often we read of poorly paid work being dished out on industry WhatsApp groups with some groups finding it difficult to recruit players because the wage was so low. We felt that this is no way to attract good, reliable talent.  Our musicians are proud to play for South Downs Strings.  This means that your event will have the happiest musicians who want to be there, who feel that they are contributing positively to a wonderful event and being paid fairly for their expertise. 

Many of our clients comment that booking our string quartet for their wedding was the most straightforward part of their wedding planning. We try to make the booking process as easy as possible. Our knowledge of weddings means that we know the right questions to ask our clients in order to help guide them through the planning process and make it as stress free as possible.

We hope that you now have a better understanding of the differences between South Downs Strings and other string quartets.  Booking us for your event means that you can plan your event with confidence, safe in the knowledge that we’ll deliver a quality, reliable performance and a level of polish that best reflects your event.

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