Quatuor Bozzini

The Quatuor Bozzini is a string quartet that specializes in new and experimental music based in Montreal, Canada.

Quatuor Bozzini
Quatuor Bozzini [o] Michael Slobodian, 2019
Background information
OriginMontreal, Quebec, Canada
GenresExperimental music
Occupation(s)String quartet
Years active1999 (1999)–present
Websitequatuorbozzini.ca/en
MembersClemens Merkel, Alissa Cheung, Stéphanie Bozzini, Isabelle Bozzini

Since 1999, Quatuor Bozzini has been an original voice in new, experimental and classical music. Their skew is radically contemporary, propelling the hyper-creative Montréal scene, and beyond. Not content to parlay received wisdom, the quartet cultivates an ethos of risk-taking, and boldly venture off the beaten track. Quatuor Bozzini stands out with their “extraordinary playing” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker). With rigorous qualitative criteria, they have nurtured a vastly diverse repertoire, unbiased by the currents of fashion. This has led to over four hundred commissioned pieces, as well as close to five hundred premiered works. A Quatuor Bozzini concert is an intensely shared experience, with meticulous and sensuous attention to detail.

Praised by its “intense musicality and immense sensitivity” (Musicworks, Canada), Quatuor Bozzini was qualified in the Bandcamp Daily as “one of the most daring string quartets of the entire world.” The group presents an annual concert series in Montréal and also tours extensively in Canada, the United States, South America and Europe. Notable festivals and venues include MärzMusik Berlin (DE); Guildhall Barbican, Aldeburgh, Huddersfield (UK); Klangspuren in Schwaz, Porgy&Bess (AT); Festival Présences, Festival Riverrun (FR); Angelica, SoundSCAPE (IT); Oslo Poesi (NOR); Gaudeamus, Muziekgebouw, NovemberMusic (NL); Kortrijk (BEL); Ostrava Days (CZ); SIPFEST (ID); Tsuda Hall (JP) TIME:SPANS, Other Minds (USA).

Educational initiatives

To ensure continual development in their art, the quartet's musical laboratories, the Composer's Kitchen, Performer's Kitchen and Bozzini Lab, work to mentor and support new generations of composers and performers. The quartet runs its own recording label, Collection QB, and has issued critically acclaimed albums, many of which have become reference recordings in the field. They have also issued albums with Edition Wandelweiser, Another Timbre, Wergo-Deutscher Musikrat, Centrediscs and ATMA Classique.

Awards

In 2018, Quatuor Bozzini was awarded the Prix Opus — Performer of the Year by the Conseil québécois de la musique. Finalist to the 28th Grand Prix (Conseil des arts de Montréal, 2012), Quatuor Bozzini is also the recipient of three Opus Prizes “International Outreach” (2007), “Contemporary Disc of the Year” (2004), and “Discovery of the Year” (2001) as well as the Étoile-Galaxie Prize from Radio-Canada (2001), the Förderpreis Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung (2007), the German Record Critics Prize for Arbor Vitae (2009) and the 2014 Friends of Canadian Music Award.

Interdisciplinary initiatives & Collaborators

The Quatuor Bozzini has participated in the development and presentation of many interdisciplinary projects. Notable cross-disciplinary collaborators include stage director Jean-Frédéric Messier,[1] dancer and choreographer Marc Boivin,[2] theatrical composer Jennifer Walshe,[3] and videographer Nathalie Bujold.[4]

Other composers the quartet has worked with include Denys Bouliane, Louis Dufort, Christopher Fox, Malcolm Goldstein, Michael Oesterle, Martin Arnold[5][6] and James Tenney.

Recordings

The Quatuor Bozzini records primarily under its label Collection QB, founded in 2004; it has released 15 records consisting of both commissioned pieces and experimental works from the 20th and 21st centuries.[7] These recordings appear frequently in Canada on the CBC and on numerous foreign radio stations.[8]

Discography
  • Hardscrabble Songs - Malcolm Goldstein (2002) In situ
  • Portrait Montréal - Vivier: Pulau Dewata; Lesage: Quatuor à cordes no 2; Oesterle: Daydream Mechanics V; Goldstein: A New Song of Many Faces for In These Times (2004) Collection QB
  • Steve Reich: Different Trains (2005) Collection QB
  • Jürg Frey: String Quartets (2006) Edition Wandelweiser
  • Canons + Hoquets - Skempton: Catch; Tendrils; Kondo: Kypsotony; Fern; Mr Bloomfield, His Spacing (2007) Collection QB
  • Und. Ging. Außen. Vorüber. (2007) Wergo
  • Arbor Vitae: James Tenney - Quatuors + Quintettes (2008) Collection QB
  • Le livre des mélancolies (with Jean-Guy Boisvert) - Grella-Możejko: ...River to the Ocean...; Lesage: Le livre des mélancolies; Brady: Slow Dances. (2008) Atma
  • Michel Gonneville: Hozhro (with Marianne Lambert and Mathieu Golin) (2009) Collection QB
  • À chacun sa miniature - 31 compositeurs (2011) Collection QB
  • Martin Arnold: Aberrare - Arnold: contact; vault; Liquidambars; Slew & Hop; Aberrare (Casting) (2011) Collection QB
  • Daniel Rothman, Ernstalbrecht Stiebler: Sens(e) Absence - Stiebler: Sehr langsam; Rothman: Sense Absence (2011) Collection QB
  • Jean Dermoe, Joanne Hétu: Le mensonge et l'identité (2011) Collection QB
  • Still Image: Chamber music by Owen Underhill - Underhill: String Quartet No. 4 - The Night; Still Image; String Quartet No. 3 - The Alynne; Trombone Quintet (with Jeremy Berkman) (2012) Centrediscs
  • John Cage: Four - Cage: String Quartet in Four Parts; Thirty Pieces for String Quartet; Four (2014) Collection QB[9]
  • Jürg Frey: String Quartet No.3; Unhörbare Zeit (with Lee Ferguson and Christian Smith, percussion) (2015) Edition Wanderweiser
  • Cassandra Miller: Just So; String Quartets (2018) Another Timbre
  • Phil Niblock: Baobab/Disseminate as Five String Quartets (2019) Collection QB

Members

Current members
  • Clemens Merkel (violin)
  • Alissa Cheung (violin)
  • Stéphanie Bozzini (viola)
  • Isabelle Bozzini (cello)

Past members
  • Mira Benjamin (violin)
  • Charles-Étienne Marchand (violin)
  • Nadia Francavilla (violin)
  • Geneviève Beaudry (violin)[8]

References
  1. "OFFTA - Un hybride bien vivant". Le Devoir. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  2. "La commedia, sous le masque, à même la peau". Le Devoir. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  3. "No punches pulled in Size Zero Opera's Women Box in London". I Care If You Listen. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  4. "Taylor Brook – Quatuor Bozzini – Nathalie Bujold". Artspring. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  5. "Quatuor Bozzini Explores the work of Martin Arnold". Canadian Music Centre.
  6. "Martin Arnold of-the-now". Open Space.
  7. Le Devoir. "Musique - Et plus de 400 concerts plus tard…". Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  8. "Quatuor Bozzini". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  9. "Artists - Bozzini Quartet". actuellecd.com. Retrieved 21 August 2014.

https://quatuorbozzini.ca/en/

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