Raven
Stephanie Benedetti, Rachael Lander, Kirsty Mangan and Natalie Holt form Raven, the groundbreaking all‐female string quartet that is fast gathering attention, through their engaging and accessible presentation of works from Vivaldi to Morricone. In the two years that they have been together, Raven’s eclectic set list has already impressed audiences around the country; from the Reading and Leeds festivals with Mercury nominated band The Last Shadow Puppets, to centre stage at the London Palladium. And more recently they have taken their widely acclaimed performances to Europe, Africa and Asia. They have also built themselves a name as recording artists, performing and recording with artists such as Gorillaz, Jools Holland, Leona Lewis, Gwen Stefani and Heather Nova.
In the summer of 2008, Raven were the resident quartet for the BBC 2 television series, Maestro. They recorded the backing strings for Lady Sovereign’s newly released album, ‘Jigsaw’, and in 2009 supported Hayley Westenra and Jonathan Ansell on their ‘Valentine’s’ tour of the UK. They also took centre stage in concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Rochester Castle.
Summer 2009 also saw them perform at the 7/07 memorial opening in Hyde Park in the presence of HRH Prince Charles .In September they performed again in the presence of royalty at Cadogan Hall London, premiering their quartet concerto to the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester with the English Chamber Orchestra. December saw the girls embark on the ‘Winter Magic Tour’ as supporting artists to Hayley Westenra across the UK, performing in it’s finest cathedrals. The also took centre stage at the Barbican in London performing their own arrangements to a sell out audience. Most recently the girls also performed with West End star Lee Mead and soprano Camilla Kerslake.
The girls promotional album ‘Raven’ was recorded at Pinewood Studios, and has been featured on Classic FM. The next album will be recorded this spring and is set to include various new arrangements of classics as well as original compositions.