Based in Toronto, Strings From Paris is a collective of classically trained string players who’ve become a working example of how to develop a viable career in today’s music industry.
The ensemble was founded in 2022 by six-time GRAMMY nominated producer Aaron Paris. Their repertoire includes everything from covers of pop hits to live shows, touring with major artists, artist collaborations and recording, music education, string arrangements, notation, and music education.
LV caught up with Strings From Paris — Aaron Paris, Madeleine Kay (aka MaddieK), Andrew Park, Brendan Rogers, and Adrian Irvine — to talk about their successes, and their approach to the business.
Strings From Paris: The Interview
The five musicians met first as students in various ensembles, including youth orchestras, and other programs.
“Most of us were at UofT together,” says Paris. He mentions playing with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. “Really, it was just getting friends together that I thought were interested in other things,” he explains.
“The original idea was just to put a show together.”
The fledgling group put together a showcase concert. The program included traditional classical pieces along with string arrangements of modern RnB and pop, contemporary pieces by composers like Caroline Shaw, and others. “And also featured artists from the city,” Aaron adds.
The showcase concert was a success, and brought in a mixed audience of classical music lovers, and people who’d never been to a live classical music event before.
“It was really just a great experience for all of us. We kind of saw the potential,” Paris says. “We wanted to keep it going.”
Social Media Stardom And Beyond
The ensemble got a bump up in terms of profile and recognition from social media, where the group began to post their interpretations of pop hits. Their cover of Drake’s hit Over in 2023 went viral after the Toronto singer reposted their video.
“We had just been doing some little clips that went online,” Kay recalls. After the Drake video went viral, they got requests. “People wanted the full version.” They reimagined several more pop songs with lush string arrangements. “We had a really good time doing it.”
Success has come step by step, and their progress has come about organically, without the benefit of PR reps.
“I wish we had a PR person,” Maddie laughs.
“It’s just all of us,” adds Aaron. He credits good management and an active social media presence. “A lot of the time it’s just us on socials.” It’s led to tours and working with some very high profile artists, including creating the string arrangements for Lauryn Hill and The Fugees’ 25th Anniversary Tour in Paris, and performing with the band.
“Yeah, we were lucky that things come to us,” Park says.
“A lot of that has come to pass with personal relationships with artists,” Maddie adds.
As a producer as well as arranger and musician, Aaron Paris has worked with a number of artists on their albums. Strings From Paris would then perform live for videos, and when it did well, they also went on tour, including with American artist Russ (Russell Vitale) on his 2024 tour, and Canadian pop star Charlotte Cardin. The ensemble performed with Cardin on stage at the 2024 Polaris Music Prize gala.
“It came about from that, a personal working relationship with them,” Kay explains.
“We continued to work on other songs with Charlotte with other projects,” Andrew notes. Strings From Paris knows Cardin’s team well by now. It’s about diversifying their performance practice.
“I think we’ve got to give a lot of credit to Aaron for that,” Park says. “A lot of us had wanted to do that. Aaron showed us how.”
Classical vs. Pop
Classical music training and education doesn’t necessarily prepare musicians for playing pop and RnB covers, or any other kind of music. Many people in the educational realm still look to keep musical genres separated into their own silos. It passes on that perspective to students.
“I had them in different parts of my brain,” Andrew says. Making the mental leap allows you to bridge that gap. “I remember having to fight an uphill battle to feel […] justified in doing different styles of music.”
Compartmentalizing different genres can hold you back in practical ways. “It’s too bad, because for me, I actually I had a lot of help in playing different genres and different instruments,” Park says. At the same time, classical training makes it easier to jump from one to the other.
The first time the group met with the intention of playing together as an ensemble, they improvised and jammed. “I remember when we all first met and we were hanging out, and jammed together, we were able to fill in space harmonically,” Andrew says. “I was surprised that there were other players who could do that.”
Playing different styles, and also adding composition to performance, creates better and more flexible musicians. “In the end I think it’s one of the greatest teaching tools,” Park says. “I think the genre walls are a little unnecessary.”
He points out that technique and intonation can improve by playing pop music covers. “It can be helped so much when you’re playing the music you’re already hearing,” Andrew adds.
“I agree with that completely,” Kay says. While she’s not practicing eight hours a day as she did in her undergrad days, performing and playing a variety of genres has added to her technical skills. “I am playing a lot,” she says. “I have improved in certain ways, in terms of phrasing.” As she points out, in covering pop songs, you’re emulating a singing voice, which requires a high degree of control.
“When you’re actually trying to emulate somebody’s voice, I find that really improved my overall phrasing,” Maddie says.
The Bridgerton Connection
Strings From Paris covers have appeared on the last two bestselling Bridgerton soundtracks, including Ariana Grandes pov in Season 3, and both Usher’s DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love and Camila Cabello’s Never Be The Same in Season 4.
As Maddie explains, the opportunity came through a contact in the publishing house that works with Aaron. That contact met with the music supervisor of the Bridgerton series, and pitched him Strings From Paris. They were given the go-ahead to come up with some samples.
“A little trial run,” Brendan explains.
“When they were looking for music for Season 3, it was a last minute call to action,” Kay recalls. “We were able to put together four songs.”
For Season 4, there was more time to prepare. It means recording a series of pieces, without knowing which one(s) will be chosen. “You have to throw a lot of stuff at the wall and see what sticks,” Maddie explains. She says they’ve released the songs that didn’t get chosen for Bridgerton themselves.
“It’s a lot of fun, and it’s great to be able to reimagine songs in that medium,” Rogers says.
“We go crazy with layering and try to make it sound as cinematic as possible,” Adrian says of their usual practice. “With Bridgerton, they asked for a more pared back, live sound.”
“A great fun challenge, for sure,” adds Brendan.
Building A Diverse Career
It boils down to keeping your music practice nimble. “Having a diverse set of things that you’re working on,” Andrew says, “live performance, recording, et cetera. All of those things have positive gains. There’s no wasted time,” he adds. “I think the holistic approach to artistry is mirrored in the holistic approach to building a career.”
He’s not a fan of separating music students into different streams according to genre, simply because it’s not realistic in terms of being able to work after graduation. He points out that, even outside of music, being fluent in various types of technology is crucial, and freelancing is more the norm than the expectation to land a seat with an orchestra that you’ll occupy for years.
“I liked the arts because it’s inherently philanthropic,” Andrew adds. “You have to find a need, a market, and contribute to that.” Attitudes can hold you back. “There’s this fear, if you’re doing more than one thing, you’re bad. You’re trash.” He points out that committing to a single genre pigeonholes potential income streams.
Education
Strings From Paris is looking to pass along their hard won knowledge of the industry to other string players.
“We’ve done some workshops in the past, in LA and Toronto,” Aaron says. They’re looking to do more of that in the future.
Via their popular social media channels, they’ve recently asked their fans and followers how they can help to get other trained string musicians on the road to a busy career. The post reads in part: “Growing up in the classical education system, we’re taught that our options are orchestra auditions, teaching, competitions. While those paths are valuable, they’re not the only paths.”
“We’re just reaching out to people on social media to see what they want, what they need,” Paris says. The group will develop social media content to answer questions and offer information. “There’s really not a lot of resources for string players today,” he points out. In today’s music industry, musicians need to know about much more than technique, including production, arranging, the use of electronics and pedals, and much more.
Strings From Paris would like to step into that breach. “And offer resources that string players want and don’t know about,” Aaron adds. They’re looking to offer that online and also in face to face settings.
“We’ve done workshops working string players as well as producers,” Adrian says. “Also in schools.” The group is aiming to teach younger student musicians the ropes of modern day careers in music. “Wishing we’d had this kind of knowledge earlier,” he adds.
As Andrew explains, it’s about identifying where you want to go. “If someone wants an orchestra job, they might start by arranging, then put together a touring orchestra,” he says. “You see more and more artists who want to tour with orchestras.”
Andrew recently performed with St. Vincent at Roy Thomson Hall, just one of a growing group of contemporary artists who are looking to add orchestral sounds to their music. “We’re seeing more and more of that.” He also mentions approaching it the other way around, and persuading pop and other artists to using orchestral arrangements.
The orchestral aspect should add a different dimension to the music, not simply exist as an add-on.
“It’s an important distinction,” Park says. “It’s very easy to be a set piece.”
In creating those arrangements, he adds, it’s important to go back to classical training, and look at the way classical musicians would have written and arranged the music. Using those principles creates an effective arrangement.
What’s Next?
“We’ve launched this new series called SFP Rescore,” Andrew says.
It involves not adding strings to the mix, but resetting the song entirely.
“It’s all about reimagining their songs with just strings,” Brendan says.
“In a video context that can draw people in,” Adrian adds. The idea is to create a body of such works as a central hub, including videos. “There’s a visual aspect of it too.”
Andrew recalls performing a concert at Zoomer Hall. Host Mark Wigmore asked the group how they came up with the idea. “A lot of what composers in the past did was reset music of [their own time],” he points out. Park cites composers such as Piazzola, who created a whole subgenre of music by taking popular tangos and transforming them into orchestral music. Mozart and Bach, he points out, took the court dances of their own eras and created sublime orchestral pieces.
It has the advantage of audience familiarity, Park says. “The syntax, the compositional structures, the ideas were all intimately known by the audience.” There was an integral relationship between the concert hall and the broader culture.
He believes a loss of that close relationship is “one of the missing links” responsible for why classical music has fallen out of consideration — still — for many people in the mainstream. “I’ve always wanted to hear EDM and dubstep done at the orchestra,” Park notes.
“With the SFP Rescore stuff, it’s not just trying to back up singers, its innovating the sounds, and what’s possible on the instruments,” Andrew says. “What we’ve made so far is, and everything that SFP is doing, is really creating and continuing in the canon of classical music, and art music.
It’s not just covers,” he adds.
“It’s carrying on that tradition of championing the music of our time that we really love.”
“Creating those spaces where modern culture can coexist with the classical music that we love,” Aaron adds.
- You can keep up with Strings From Paris and their many activities online and off [HERE].
- Find their Spotify channel [HERE].
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