Aquila Strings

Aquila is a classically trained, finely tuned string act that features some of Perth’s most up and coming players – bound by a passion for performance.

Available in various lineup sizes, Aquila is a classically trained, finely tuned string act that features some of Perth’s most up and coming players – bound by a passion for performance.

The members of Aquila have spent most of their lives refining their chops on the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart – only listening to and playing more contemporary music as a fan or as a hired gun, never truly exploring the potential of applying their passion to the greatest songs written this side of the millennia.

Aquila have set out, led by first violinist and arranger Rachael Aquilina, to bring about somewhat of a change to the commonly held perception of what a night out to see a string quartet might look, sound and feel like. If you’re not sure what Daft Punk, Radiohead or Britney Spears would sound like played by two violins, a viola and a cello, you’re not alone… add one of Perth’s most respected drummers, Ben Vanderwal, and you’ve got something close to an idea of how cool some of the best songs from the last 50 years could sound – rethought and rearranged on instruments that have ruled popular music over the last 500 years.

Boasting completely original arrangements and reinterpretations of artists spanning from the Beatles to Gotye and from Metallica to Amy Winehouse, it would be fair to say no stone has been left unturned in building Aquila’s ever-expanding repertoire of future classics – reimagined for classical instruments. Aquila’s live performances smash the two worlds of classical and contemporary music together in a way neither would expect, making for renditions and re-imaginings that bring out the rock in classical and the baroque in pop.

ROCK/ALTERNATIVE
A Hard Days Night- The Beatles

Africa- Toto

Airbag- Radiohead

All I Want Is You- U2

All My Loving- The Beatles

All Of My Love- Led Zeppelin

All The Small Things- Blink 182

All you Need Is Love- The Beatles

And I Love her- John Lennon/McCartney

Angie- The Rolling Stones

Another One Bites The Dust- Queen

Are You Gonna Go My Way- Lenny Kravtiz

Beautiful Day- U2

Bennie and the Jets- Elton John

Better Together- Jack Johnson

Bittersweet Symphony- The Verve

Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen

Break On Through- The Doors

Can You Feel The Love Tonight- Elton John

Can’t Take My Eyes off of you- Frankie Valli

Can’t Feel My Face- The Weeknd

Changes- David Bowie

Chasing Cars- Snow Patrol

Clocks- Coldplay

Come Together- John Lennon/McCartney

Come On Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners

Creep- Radiohead

Dance Dance- Fall Out Boy

Daughter- Pearl Jam

Do I Wanna Know? – Arctic Monkeys

Don’t Stop Me Now- Queen

Eleanor Rigby- The Beatles

Enjoy the silence- Depeche Mode

Everlong- Foo Fighters

Every Breath You Take- Sting

Fall At Your Feet- Crowded House

Fat Bottomed Girls- Queen

Feeling Good- Muse/Michael Buble

Fields of Gold- Sting

Fix You- Coldplay

Follow You Follow Me- Genesis

Fragile- Sting

Get Back- John Lennon/McCartney

Get Lucky- Daft Punk

God Only Knows (slow version)- The Beach Boys

Gold On The Ceiling- The Black Keys

Good Day Sunshine- The Beatles

Good Riddance (time of your life)- Greenday

Hallelujah- Leonard Cohen

Happy Together- The Turtles

Have I told You Lately- Van Morrison

Heartbeats- Jose Gonzalez

Hello, Goodbye- The Beatles

Here, there, everywhere- The Beatles

Hey Jude- The Beatles

Hey Now – London Grammar

Hey You- Pink Floyd

Ho Hey- The Lumineers

Holocene- Bon Iver

Hoppipolla- Sigur Ros

Horses- Daryl Braithwaite

Hotel California- The Eagles

House Of Cards- Thom Yorke

How Deep is Your Love- The Bee Gees

How To Disappear Completely- Radiohead

Hysteria- Muse

I Believe in a Thing Called Love – The Darkness

I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing- Aerosmith

I Will Follow the Sun- The Beatles

I Want to hold your hand- The Beatles

I’ll Stand By You- The Pretenders

If I Fell In Love With You- John Lennon/McCartney

Imagine- John Lennon/McCartney

In My Life- The Beatles

In My Place- Coldplay

Just- Radiohead

Karma Police- Radiohead

​Kashmir- Led Zeppelin

Kids- MGMT

Killer Queen- Queen

Killing In The Name Of- Rage Against The Machine

Let It Be- The Beatles

Like A Rolling Stone- Boby Dylan

Livin On A Prayer- Bon Jovi

Love Is All Around- Wet, Wet, Wet

Love Song- The Cure
Master of Puppets- Metallica

Message In A Bottle- The Police

Michelle- John Lennon/McCartney

Morning Has Broken- Cat Stevens

Motion Picture Soundtrack- Radiohead

Never Tear Us Apart- INXS

New Slang- The Shins

Nights In White Satin- The Moody Blues

Nightswimming- R.E.M

Nothing Else Matters- Metallica

Numb- Linkin Park

One Love- Bob Marley

Octopus’s Garden – Ringo Starr

Paradise- Coldplay

Paranoid Android- Radiohead

Radioactive- Imagine Dragons

Rebellion Lies- Arcarde Fire

Resistance- Muse

Riders on the Storm- The Doors

Roxanne- The Police/Sting

Satisfaction- The Rolling Stones

September- Earth, Wind, Fire

Shyer – London Grammar

Skinny Love- Bon Iver

Smells Like Teen Spirit- Nirvana

Somebody I Used To Know- Gotye

Somebody To Love- Freddie Mercury

Somebody Told Me- The Killers

Somewhere Only We Know- Keane

Stairway To Heaven- Led Zepellin

Stand By Me- Ben E.King

Starlight- Muse

Summer of 69- Bryan Adams

Sunburn- Muse

Sweet Child of Mine- Guns n Roses

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This- The Eurythmics

Sweet Home Alabama- Lynrd Skynyrd

Take A Walk- Passion Pit

Take Me Out- Franz Ferdinand

Tears In Heaven- Eric Clapton

The Best Of Queen- Queen

The Scientist- Coldplay

The Show Must Go On- Queen

The Quiet Things No One Ever Knows- Brand New

There is a Light that Never Goes out- The Smiths

Thunderstruck- ACDC

Time Is Running Out- Muse

Time To Pretend- MGMT

Tiny Dancer- Elton John

Use Somebody- Kings Of Leon

Violet Hill- Coldplay

Viva La Vida- Coldplay

Wake Me Up When September Ends- Greenday

We Are the Champions- Queen

Who Am I – Counting Crows

With Or Without You- U2

Wonderful Tonight- Eric Clapton

World Without Love- The Beatles

Wonderwall- Oasis

Wouldn’t It Be Nice- The Beach Boys

Yellow- Coldplay

Yesterday- The Beatles

You and Me- Lifehouse

You’re My Best Friend- Queen

Zombie- The Cranberries

POP
1,2,3,4 – Feist

A Thousand Years- Christina Perri

Ain’t Nobody- Chaka Khan

All of Me- John Legend

Alejandro- Lady GaGa

Applause- Lady GaGa

Baby One More Time- Britney Spears

Back to Black- Amy Winehouse

Bad Romance- Lady Gaga

Breakaway- Avril Lavigne

Bring me to life- Evanescene

Call Me Maybe- Carly Rae Jepsen

Careless Whisper- George Michael

Chandelier- Sia

Crazy- Gnarls Barkley

Feel- Robbie Wiliiams

From This Moment On- Shania Twain

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!- ABBA

Frozen- Madonna

Halo- Beyonce

Happy- Pharrell Williams

Hey Soul Sister- Train

Hot Stuff- Donna Summer

I Feel It Coming- The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk

I Gotta Feeling- The Black Eyed Peas

If I Ain’t Got You- Alicia Keys

If I were a boy- Beyonce

I’m Yours- Jason Maraz

Just The Way You Are- Bruno Mars

Killing Me Softly- The Fugees

Love Story- Taylor Swift

Love Is a Loosing Game – Amy Winehouse

Mamma Mia- ABBA

Medley- Daft Punk

Moves Like Jagger- Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera

Never Let me Go- Florence and the Machine

Over The Rainbow (Hawaiian version)- Israel Kamakawiwo’ole

Rather Be- Clean Bandit ft Jess Glyne

Rolling In the Deep- Adele

Royals- Lorde

Runnin (lose it all)- Beyonce

Skyfall- Adele

Smooth Criminal- Michael Jackson

Summertime Sadness- Lana Del Ray

Supreme- Robbie Williams

Take Me To Church- Hozier

The Call- Regina Spektor

This Love- Maroon 5

Thriller- Michael Jackson

Thinking Out Loud- Ed Sheeran

Time After Time- Cyndi Lauper

Titanium- David Guetta ft Sia

Toxic- Britney Spears

Turning Tables- Adele

We Found Love- Rhianna ft. Calvin Harris

Without You- David Guetta

Wrecking Ball- Miley Cyrus

Young And Beautiful- Lana Del Ray

You’re Beautiful- James Blunt

JAZZ/OTHER
A Whole New World- From the movie ‘Aladdin’

A Day In the Life of a Fool – Arr. Bert Ligon

All of You – Cole Porter

At Last-Etta James

Begin the Beguine – Cole Porter

Blue Moon – Arr. Matt Turner

Bye Bye Blackbird – Arr. Bud Caputo

Cry Me A River- Arthur Hamilton

Everything- Michael Buble

Every Time We Say Goodbye – Cole Porter

Fly Me to The Moon – Frank Sinatra

Gabriel’s Oboe (from the soundtrack ‘The Mission’- Ennio Morriconne

How High The Moon – Arr. Thom Sharp

I Concentrate on You – Cole Porter

I Get a Kick Out of You – Cole Porter

It Had To Be You – Arr. Martin Norgaard

It’s All Right With Me – Cole Porter

It’s Only a Paper Moon – Arr. Bert Ligon

I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Cole Porter

I Love You – Cole Porter

Night and Day – Cole Porter

La Vie En Rose- Edith Piaf

Libertango- Bond

Let It Go (from the movie ‘Frozen’- Kristen and Robert Lopez

Moon River- Henry Mancini

Over The Rainbow- Harold Arlen

Pirates Of The Caribbean- Klaus Badelt

Take Five – Arr. Bert Ligon

Unchained Melody- Alex North

Up Where We Belong- Joe Cocker

We Go Together- From ‘Grease’

What A Wonderful World- Loui Armstrong

What Is This Thing Called Love? – Cole Porter

You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To – Cole Porter