Meanwhile, VSQ\u2019s ability to bridge the gap between disparate genres has attracted the attention of television producers and music supervisors. Their recordings have found their way into popular TV shows like \u201cBridgerton,\u201d \u201cWestworld,\u201d and \u201cGossip Girl,\u201d each placement carefully chosen to enhance the narrative moments they accompany.<\/p>\n
And, in a case of life imitating art, the Vitamin String Quartet recordings used in wedding scenes on \u201cGossip Girl\u201d and \u201cModern Family\u201d have also been used for real-life walks down the aisle.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes they aren\u2019t allowed to use a pop piece in a church,\u201d said Curtiss, \u201cor they want to have something that feels very classical and has the romantic kind of setting that Vitamin String Quartet would provide. So instead of having Handel or Bach or something like that, they want to use something that they know, something that they share, something that\u2019s \u2018their\u2019 song.\u201d<\/p>\n
VSQ\u2019s journey began in 1999, but it wasn\u2019t until years later that the project adopted its current name. What started as a series of studio recordings has since grown into a collective of artists, producers, and performers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people that preceded us felt that a quartet was not enough, so they would do certain studio trickery and sometimes add more instrumentation,\u201d Curtiss explained. \u201cWhen we came in, we felt there was no reason to, for lack of a better term, fake it. You don\u2019t need a lot of layers, you don\u2019t need a lot of studio trickery. You don\u2019t need to add an electric guitar, or electronics of any kind. You don\u2019t need any of that. You just need four players playing it authentically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, for the shifting lineup of musicians who bring Vitamin String Quartet\u2019s music out on the road, it can be an entirely different experience than what they\u2019re used to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe give them an opportunity to solo and vamp, and that\u2019s not something that they were trained or encouraged to do,\u201d Curtiss said. \u201cTo be part of an orchestra, or even if you get into certain smaller ensembles, there\u2019s not a lot of room for improvisation. But a lot of our players have got more going on than just classical music, and it\u2019s great to work with people who, when you tell them to kind of cut loose, they can \u2014 or are very willing to try \u2014 as opposed to being stuck with their noses in a book.\u201d<\/p>\n
While four sets of strings remain VSQ\u2019s stock in trade, as the current work with Girl Named Tom shows, they\u2019ve also been known to collaborate with outside artists. This\u00a0open-minded approach to musical genres has led to some surprising connections.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in the heavy metal arena, especially in the early days, were the most inclined to give us their vote of confidence,\u201d Curtiss said. \u201cMetallica has used some of our music to warm up for their shows, and Mastodon has done the same. And then on the flipside, there was Sabrina Carpenter, who\u2019s probably the biggest pop artist in the world right now outside of Taylor Swift. She heard our take on one of her songs and jumped on TikTok to give it a thumbs up.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Netflix](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-1397472082.jpg\")
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA \u2013 MAY 15: Queen Charlotte (L) looks on as the Vitamin String Quartet perform onstage at Netflix\u2019s Bridgerton ATAS Official at Raleigh Studios Hollywood on May 15, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay\/Getty Images for Netflix)<\/p>\n
This kind of recognition from mainstream artists has proven invaluable in an age where social media is a crucial tool for marketing and audience engagement. When it comes to consuming music, this is a drastically different world than it was back in 1999.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen digital marketing came along, that was around the time that we came up with the name Vitamin String Quartet and fixed it to the series,\u201d Curtiss said. \u201cBecause by that point, there was already a pretty massive catalog of recordings with no real connective tissue. And concurrent with that, we were looking at it as a platform to turn this into a more active project that goes beyond just the studio recordings. We wanted to put people on a stage, to put people in front of a camera, all of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shift to digital platforms allows VSQ to reach a global audience, far beyond what would have been possible in the days of physical album sales. It has also led to some unexpected viral moments, including a bit of reverse appropriation from none other than the subject of the group\u2019s newest album.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple years ago, Billie Eilish used one of our pieces of music on a TikTok video,\u201d said Curtiss, \u201cand that gave us a big, big boost. So it does happen. I just wish,\u201d he added with a laugh, \u201cit would happen more frequently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bill Forman is a freelance writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The music industry has a long and storied tradition of taking original hits and transforming them into something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,1681,1213,289,432],"class_list":["post-307192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-entertainment","tag-music-and-concerts","tag-things-to-do","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}