We have been chatting to Shasta Ellenbogen, a Canadian violist who founded a naked string quartet in Berlin, intermittently the talk of the town. They are serious musicians whose next dates are 23 and 30 August at the Kit Kat Club.
Slippedisc: Whose idea was it?
Shasta: It was my idea 
I ran a concert series Classical Sundays between 2016-2024, which was an outreach project and very successful at bringing new audiences to classical music locally. In 2024 I was invited to meet the boss of the KitKat Club, a world famous sex positive nightclub, and I pitched the Naked String Quartet idea to her, again with the idea of outreach and bringing new audiences to classical. She agreed and it’s been a massive success!
SD: were there any objections from public authorities?
Shasta: No not at all, since it happens inside a sex club, nudity is allowed.
SD: What does it add to the music, performing in the nude?
It makes it accessible to the audience at Kitkat Club, and. it profoundly changes the dynamic between the musicians and the audience. The fact that we are naked makes it clear that we don’t stand for the elitism and classism and perfectionism that the establishment stands for. We feel more comfortable being human, and they feel more comfortable seeing us.
SD Do you rehearse unclothed?
Shata: Very funny question! Actually we don’t do any rehearsals, ever. We only do unrehearsed, “real-time” classical music as I like to call it. This also changes the concert experience in a huge way.
SD: Is that audience always well-behaved?
Shasta: Absolutely!
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