Composer's Workshop: Quatuor Bozzini Part I

Quatuor Bozzini has been an original voice and strong advocate in new, experimental and classical music since 1999. Driving the hyper-creative Montréal scene and beyond, the quartet cultivates an ethos of risk-taking, experimentation, and collaboration, venturing boldly off the beaten track. With a rigorous eye for quality, it has nurtured a rich and diverse repertoire, regardless of trends, and leading to a great number of commissions and some 500 premiered works. Its open, collaborative, artist-led approach has resulted in the realization of numerous innovative and highly praised productions, including inter-disciplinary projects with video, theater and dance.

To ensure the continual development of the artform, Quatuor Bozzini’s musical ‘laboratories’, the Composers’ Kitchen, Performers’ 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 released many critically acclaimed albums (including Juno nomination 2020, German Record Critics’ Award) which have become reference recordings in the field. They have also issued albums with Wergo-Deutscher Musikrat, Edition Wandelweiser, Another Timbre, Hubro, ATMA Classique, and Centrediscs.

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.” Quatuor Bozzini is a self-managed organization, producing a concert series in Montréal and touring extensively in Canada, the USA, and Europe.  Notable festivals and venues include MärzMusik Berlin (DE); Guildhall Barbican, Aldeburgh, Huddersfield (UK); Klangspuren Schwaz, Porgy&Bess (AT); Festival Présences, Festival Riverrun (FR); Angelica, SoundSCAPE (IT); Oslo Poesi (NO); Gaudeamus, Muziekgebouw, NovemberMusic (NL); Kortrijk (BE); Ostrava Days (CZ); SIPFEST (ID); Tsuda Hall (JP); TIMESPANS, Other Minds (USA).

Juno Nominee in 2020 for their album Short Stories, Quatuor Bozzini was awarded the prix Opus — Performer of the Year by the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM) in 2018. They were also finalist to the 28th Grand prix (Conseil des arts de Montréal, 2012), and recipient of three prix Opus “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’ Award for Arbor Vitae (2009) and the Friends of Canadian Music Award (2014)