FUSE Violinists Headline At Henley Festival

FUSE VIOLINISTS HEADLINE AT HENLEY FESTIVAL

AUDIENCE SHAKEN NOT STIRRED AT JAMES BOND EVENING GALA

Linzi Stoppard, Ben Lee, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Bourne and the wonderful Joanna Lumley entertained a celebrity audience with the world renown Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Before the music even started the audience were ‘stirred’ by the arrival of local stuntman Gary Connery who skydived down on to the lawns of the festival grounds.  Gary whose films include James Bond ‘Die Another Day’ but now best known for his ‘Queen’ skydiving James Bond role at the Olympic opening ceremony last year. After arriving on stage Stewart Collins, the Festival Director, asked “Do you have a ticket for tonight Gary?”

The music, played by the fantastic Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, opened the show with the James Bond famous theme tune.

World class electric string duo Linzi Stoppard and Ben lee, aka FUSE, became the first electric violin act to feature with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, performing renditions of “Diamonds Are Forever” (performed on FUSE’s exclusive $1.5M Swarovski Crystal violins) and “The Living Daylights”.

West End stars Hannah Waddingham and Alex Bourne then delighted the audience with their powerful renditions of James Bond hits starting with ‘Goldfinger’ and included ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘View to a Kill’ and ‘For Your Eyes Only’ to name just a few.

Joanna Lumley, a Bond girl herself in ‘On Her Majesty’s Service, hosted the evening and provided great interludes of Bond facts between the music.  She said, “Even though I’m a pensioner, I can say that I’m forever a ‘Bond Girl’ and you can’t take that away.”

The programme also featured Strictly Come Dancing stars Kristina Rhianoff and Robin Windsor who danced passionately to the music and the dynamic electric violinsts FUSE  (Linzi Stoppard and Ben Lee) playing their ‘million dollar’  Swarovski crystal covered violins.

The evening ended with Hannah singing ‘Skyfall’, accompanied by Alex Bourne, Linzi Stoppard and Ben Lee, the first Oscar winning Bond song and the audience giving a standing ovation and wanting more.

For more information  on FUSE please visit HERE