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As a model, looks are everything. But as a musician, good looks can only get you so far. Lucky then that all the members of string quartet Escala are musicians who sound as good as they look.
"To be honest I think people who say that we got to where we are just based on our looks haven't heard us play," said Escala cellist Tassya Hodges over the phone from London.
"We've trained hard since we were five. We were all professional musicians before we chose to do Escala. We've all been to the right schools, we've all got degrees."
But she conceded: "It takes a lot of work to get us looking like that! I think it's a shame that you can't look presentable and possibly be able to do anything, really, or possibly be talented."
The four members - Hodges, 26; Chantal Leverton on viola, 26; violinists Victoria Lyon, 25, and Izzy Johnston, 24 - are definitely not short on talent.
Lyon went to the Royal College of Music and was the youngest player to be accepted by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
At 13, Leverton won the prestigious Henry Wood prize for most promising string player from the Trinity College of Music.
Johnston came from a musical family - her parents run a music school and two of her three brothers are classical musicians - and has performed with the Royal Philharmonic as a soloist.
Hodges, who can speak four languages, won the London Symphony Orchestra String Scheme Award and played with the orchestra for three months.
They met while performing as part of a string section touring with power-pop band McFly.
They decided to form Escala and took part in the TV contest Britain's Got Talent last year. They didn't win, but their appearance opened doors and they released their self-titled debut album earlier this month.
The album features classical as well as pop and rock songs done Escala-style.
Interestingly, the song choices were almost unanimous between the quartet and the album's executive producer, the barbed-tongued judge of American Idol and Britain's Got Talent, Simon Cowell.
"We wrote down a list of tracks and Simon wrote a list too," said Hodges. "It was weird because there were so many songs that were the same. Some of them are quite strange choices, but I think it works."
And Hodges hopes that Escala can offer something new for years to come: "I hope it carries on for as long as possible. We're having such an amazing time. It's the best job in the world."
Escala's self-titled debut album is available at all leading CD shops.
- TODAY/yb
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