Violinist Franz Benteler is living proof of the adage that clothes make the man. Ever since the mid-1960s, when he began dressing the part of a musical ambassador in white tails and red sash, Benteler has been mingling with royalty and heads of state, including five American presidents, Emperor Hirohito of Japan, and Sweden`s King Gustav.
Benteler, who brings his Royal Strings orchestra to Lake Park Bandshell in Des Plaines on Sunday, possesses an Old World flair that seems rooted in a bygone era of elegant nightlife.
Benteler explains that he goes for a larger-than-life image because
”showmanship is extremely important to me. You could find a better fiddle player than me, and get six string players with their noses buried in the sheet music, and it just wouldn`t be as entertaining. I have my musicians memorize the score so they can walk out into the audience.”
Even when he began his musical career in the early `50s, in the waning years of the Big Band era, Benteler`s repertoire of light classical pieces was something of an anomaly. ”The agents told me it would never sell,” says Benteler, who, in fact, has done well enough to purchase a 1701 Stradivarius violin valued at $500,000.
Benteler got the idea for his string ensemble on a trip to Mexico City in 1963. ”There was a restaurant, the Villa Fontana, very elegant, with a big fountain in the middle, two grand pianos back to back,” he recalls.
”All of a sudden, the lights went out, except for pin lights focused on 12 violinists in their ties and tails, who then played for the diners. It was really very effective. Strolling violins had never appealed to me before from a musical standpoint, but the showmanship is undeniable.”
When Benteler returned to Chicago, he persuaded the manager of the Consort Room at the old Continental Plaza Hotel to let him add five more violin players to his standard six-piece dance band. Benteler and his new group soon became the toast of the town, and began a 17-year engagement.
”It`s not a stuffy thing that we do,” says Benteler, who since 1984 has lived in Arlington Heights with his wife and six children. ”We try to keep pace with the times. Because we have the strings, sometimes people are afraid it will be too classical. But we mix it up.
”We`ll make a splashy entrance and start with something dramatic like
`Chariots of Fire,` then do something very pretty, and always a waltz by Strauss, then into a bluegrass number. And because a lot of our audience these days grew up on Motown, we`ll do some of that.”
Franz Benteler and his 11-piece Royal Strings orchestra begin their free concert at 7 p.m. at Lake Park Bandshell, on Lee Street between Touhy and Howard Streets in Des Plaines. Call 296-6106.
