Stringfever tours Montana with unique mix of comedy and string virtuosity.
Stringfever kicks off an eight-town tour of Montana with a concert at 7 p.m. March 29 at the Ronan Performing Arts Center.
The show is part of the Mission Valley Live series; more information is on the website.
According to the band’s website, they also perform March 30 at The Ellen in Bozeman, April 4 in Plains, April 5 in Libby, April 7 at the Seeley-Swan High School in Seeley Lake, April 10 in Fort Benton, April 11 in Deer Lodge and April 12 in Belt.
Britain’s Broadbent boys came from a family of musicians. Giles and Ralph studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Graham at the Royal College. Giles went on to lead the orchestras for several West End shows (“Sunset Boulevard,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “My Fair Lady”).
Their youngest brother, Neal, was due to study at the Guildhal School of Music but was kidnapped by his brothers to be the cellist in their new group – Stringfever.
Since then, they’ve delivered more than 1,000 performances in 33 countries.
Although oldest brother, violinist and bandleader Giles Broadbent died last September at age 51, the family has since added cousin Sophie Broadbent to the quartet “enabling the band to continue to perform and build upon the immense foundation that Giles was the driving force behind since 2003.”
Their show features five- and six-stringed electric violins, called violectras, viola, cello and beatbox. Some of the unique offerings include Stringfever’s acclaimed version of “Bolero,” with all four members of playing one cello at the same time; Name That Tune, with the audience trying to guess the titles of 20 popular film theme songs; and a rousing rendition of “.007: A James Bond Medley.”
The show culminates with the group’s signature finale, “The History of Music in Five minutes.”
Comedian Paul Merton lauds their mix of music and comedy as “potent.”