HONG KONG — I came here not knowing much about Escala. I’d be going home feeling as if I’d known the four girls for a long time, with their music echoing in my mind.
Together with journalists from the Asian region, I watched the Escala showcase at The Ballroom of The Mira, the newest and perhaps most modern hotel in this city, and I fell in love with them at first hearing.
I couldn’t help it. The girls — violinists Victoria Lyon, Izzy Johnson and Chantal Leverton; and cellist Tasya Hodges — matched good looks with enormous talent, with a generous dose of sexiness thrown in, and they played so magically — oh-so-lustily! — that they would leave you breathlessly wanting for more, more, more! When they played, they did so as if they were romancing their instruments and their body language was simply infectious! You have to watch them “live” to better enjoy them.
“Simply incredible!” exclaimed nasty American Idol judge Simon Cowell when he first heard the Escala perform in last year’s Britain’s Got Talent. I, along with the other journalists, felt the same way I’m sure. The Escala was simply incredible! Added the hard-to-please Cowell, “They are completely original and they have got it all: Remarkable dedication and training, looks, intelligence, the right attitude to make it big and music that has wide appeal. With their amazing stage presence as well, they are a very rare talent and I believe there will be a huge interest in them, particularly in America.”
And soon, the whole world.
Meet them:
• Victoria, 26, is the great-great-granddaughter of the renowned 19th century opera singer Jenny Lind, known as “The Swedish Nightingale.” She attended the Royal Academy of Music and joined the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as its youngest player.
• Izzy, 25, also from the Royal Academy of Music, comes from a musical family who runs a music school. Her brothers are all into it: Guy is a cellist, Magnus a violinist and Rupert a horn player.
• Chantal, 26, was a member of the prestigious National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain before she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. At 13, she won The Henry Wood prize for most promising string player from the Trinity College of Music and at 14, played at the Wigmore Hall in a masterclass with the Vienna piano trio.
• Tasya, 27, plays the huge cello which requires an extra seat (paid for) on the plane when the quartet travels. Born in England but half-Croatian, she was a scholar at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, England. She performed with the London Symphony Orchestra for three months.
They could have been beauty queens or supermodels but no, thank you, they’d rather enthrall the world with their own kind of (mesmerizing) music. Together for four years, Escala competed in Britain’s Got Talent in 2008. Cowell, who also organized Il Divo, promptly tied them down to a contract.
The girls’ eponymous debut CD is released locally by Sony Music.
Why did you call your group Escala (with an “E”)?
Victoria: We considered several names before we settled for Escala, after the famous opera house Scala in Milan (Italy). Unfortunately, there’s a Belgian choir named Scala, so we decided to add an “E” which is how it is spelled in Spanish.
You are the female conterpart of Il Divo which was, coincidentally, organized by Simon Cowell, the “nasty” judge in American Idol and Britain’s Got Talent. The four Divos are drop-dead gorgeous and so are the four of you.
Izzy: Really? It’s an honor.
You play the violins and the cello very beautifully. I wonder, do the four of you also sing?
Chantal (Smiling): Oh, only a little bit. But not on our album.
You create such beautiful, musical harmony. What about as friends...are you in harmony with one another?
Tasya: Yeah, definitely! We became very good friends after we became a group. We are like sisters now. The three of them studied in the same music school and I in another school but that didn’t matter.
It says in your bio that with your unique formula of fun and integrity, you believe that this kind of approach will encourage many people, particularly the young, to overcome prejudices about classical instruments. Would it make things easier if you play popular songs the young can relate to?
Victoria: I guess people of all ages, no matter if their taste for music differs, will enjoy listening to our album. Music should have no boundaries. What matters is how it is played.
How did you choose the selections on the album? (Requiem For a Tower, Clinton Mansell; Palladio, Karl Jenkins; Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir featuring Slash, Robert Plant/Jimmy Page/John Bonham; Finding Beauty, Craig Armstrong; Children, Roberto Concina; Live and Let Die, Paul McCartney/Linda McCartney; Chi Mai, Ennio Morricone; Feeling Good, Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley; Sarabande, Handel; Clubbed to Death, Rob Dougan; and Adagio for Strings, Samuel Barber.)
Izzy: We pretty much agreed on the choice of the selections. No, we didn’t have any arguments about it. (Laughs)
Simon Cowell exclaimed “Simply incredible!” the first time he heard you perform. That was something, considering his reputation of being hard-to-please. Weren’t you intimidated by him?
Chantal (Laughs): Oh, it was quite nerve-wracking! We entered the stage from the side a bit far from him and we felt very weird. It was very surreal. We were very nervous but we didn’t show it; we tried to be as cool and as composed as we could. If he hated what we were doing and he said so in that live coverage, in front of millions of people around the world, it would have been very embarrassing.
He was, just like the other judges, all ears in front of you. Weren’t you distracted by his presence?
Tasya: Distracted, yes, but we tried hard not to let our nervousness get in the way of our performance.
Did you try to impress him more than the other judges?
Victoria: Not really. We just did the usual thing — you know, perform as well as we always do. We were performing not to impress anybody but to please everybody. What’s frustrating is performing in a dinner show and the audience is enjoying the food more than listening to us perform.
Aside from the fact that you don’t sing and only play instruments, how do you think you differ from all-female groups like The Supremes, Spice Girls and Pussycat Dolls?
Izzy (Laughs): Well, we’re not singers. There’s not much difference, really. Like the other groups, we play beautiful music together and there’s wonderful chemistry among us. We’re doing this because we all love what we are doing.
And, if I may add, you are all very sexy and very beautiful, and I’m sure that enhances your music and you create more impact on the audience like what happened at the showcase last night.
Chantal: And we work just as hard.
Tasya: We all absolutely love performing and to do it with your closest friends is just the best thing you could imagine. I can only say that this feels like it was meant to be.
(E-mail reactions at mailto:rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at mailto:entphilstar@yahoo.com)