The experienced musicians of Penn Strings perform vibrant, live music in Northeastern Pennsylvania, bringing their musical excellence to both traditional classical arrangements as well as the latest pop hits.

As pop-classical fusion groups like The Vitamin String Quartet and the Hampton Rock String Quartet have enjoyed a surge in popularity, local audiences have enjoyed and appreciated Penn Strings’ own take on this kind of acoustic adventure.

Principal violinist Chris Souza and cellist Aggie Rybska met while playing in a local community orchestra. They began to play duets together, enjoying the musical collaboration and intimate sound. Their duo soon became a new string ensemble, Penn Strings. Starting with classical compositions, the pair’s creative explorations grew to include more modern pieces. Aggie's experience playing in the cello-driven rock band Rasputina and Chris' experience in touring orchestras and backing popular artists including the Indigo Girls, Natalie Merchant, Josh Groban, Neil Sedaka, and Sarah Brightman, allowed them to explore pop music with ease. Soon they were performing their own arrangements of contemporary hits at weddings and public events.

Fast forward a few years, and the calendar was fully booked! The group’s inbox continued to blow up, and it became clear that Penn Strings needed a front-end manager to handle communication, contracts, and scheduling. Chris met wedding officiant Susanne Wilson while working at a ceremony together and immediately knew Susanne’s personal, client-centered approach would be a perfect fit for the Penn Strings team. She eagerly stepped into the role of "The Dateskeeper" and has successfully balanced all Penn Strings communication as well as her duties as an officiant ever since.

As bookings increased, Penn Strings required more musicians to keep up with demand. Thankfully, Eastern Pennsylvania is rich with musical talent. Using connections in the local orchestral scene, Chris has personally invited a select group of additional professionals who eagerly bring Penn Strings’ classical/pop fusion repertoire to life. As occasions have called for larger ensembles over the years, the group has built additional connections with a number of gifted pianists and guitarists with whom they maintain working relationships. Penn Strings considers itself lucky to have such a variety of talented, reliable musicians as members of its team, and believes its musicians are among the best in the region.

Throughout the last fifteen years of service, playing hundreds of events, Penn Strings has delivered excellence in musicianship to each performance.

You might find a number of quality string groups out there, but we’re pretty sure you won’t find one who has as much fun as we do!