The Brass String Chamber Ensemble was founded by us: Paul and Kris Semanic. We met in 1989 and started playing for weddings and other special events together right away. We officially started the BSCE in 1990 and got married in 1994. Our experience with brass and/or string ensembles covers over 20 years and over 2000 events. We average about 125 events per year and are one of the most popular ensembles in Chicagoland. We are very professional, helpful, organized and easy to work with. We strive to exceed your expectations and we enjoy treating you and your guests to wonderful music. The core of our ensemble is a string quartet (2 violins, 1 viola and 1 cello). We specialize in adding 1 (or more) trumpets to the string quartet. This combination is absolutely perfect for wedding ceremony music and makes a much grander impression than the string quartet alone. We have an incredibly large library of music for string quartet and trumpets and we enjoy collecting new music on our travels as well as writing our own arrangements. This makes our ensemble even more unique - no one else has the arrangements that we have written and continue to write. We will also assist you in selecting the most appropriate music for your ensemble. (You can hear samples on our website.) Our string quartet is also available for receptions and parties. The renowned Stonegate Brass Quintet is also available for special events (weddings, concerts, graduations, etc.) Thanks very much for your interest in the BSCE ~ we look forward to hearing from you!