Pop and rock classics were composed into classical numbers in a live show Thursday night.
Vitamin String Quartet, a group of four professional string musicians, performed its arrangements of popular songs for a sold-out crowd in an Ohio Union Activities Board-sponsored concert at the Performance Hall in the Ohio Union.
The Los Angeles-based Quartet includes Chris Woods and Crystal Alforque on violin, Zach Dellinger on viola and Derek Stein on cello.
The Quartet played an 18-song set, which included Top 40 favorites, including “Clocks” by Coldplay and “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol. Its rendition of Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” had the four string players out of their seats, stomping and moving to the beat on stage.
“Next (song) I’m going to stage dive,” Woods quipped after the audience’s applause.
They followed the Adele hit with a much slower Beatles classic, “Across the Universe.” The Quartet continued to play classic rock staples with performances of Aerosmith’s “Dream On” and Rufus Wainwright’s “Hallelujah.”
Before one song, Stein told the crowd that they could sing along to their next tune, which was Queen’s rock opera “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The audience complied.
“Can we take you on the road with us? (You) hit that high note, too,” Stein said after the song.
The Quartet completed its set with an encore performance of “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz, which had Dellinger playing his viola like a ukulele.
The concert hall was filled with some long-time fans of the Quartet.
“I’m a violinist, and I’ve just always wanted to hear them play. Since I have a classical background, it’s cool to hear string players always play pop arrangements,” said Kristen Peters, a third-year in music and psychology.
Peters said her favorite song of the performance was “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but Gino DiGeronimo, a second-year in engineering, said his favorite was a ‘Shoe staple.
“(My favorite) I think (was) ‘Seven Nation Army,’ (by The White Stripes) because it made me think of football season, when they play that at the stadium,” DiGeronimo said.
OUAB did not disclose how much it cost to bring the Quartet to campus for the concert.
