The Quatuor Bozzini is a string quartet that specializes in new and experimental music based in Montreal, Canada. 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”. 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”, 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 ; Guildhall Barbican, Aldeburgh, Huddersfield ; Klangspuren Schwaz, Porgy&Bess ; Festival Présences, Festival Riverrun ; Angelica, SoundSCAPE ; Oslo Poesi ; Gaudeamus, Muziekgebouw, NovemberMusic ; Kortrijk ; Ostrava Days ; SIPFEST ; Tsuda Hall TIME:SPANS, Other Minds.
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 :fr:Prix Opus|Prix Opus — Performer of the Year by the Conseil québécois de la musique. Finalist to the 28th Grand Prix, Quatuor Bozzini is also the recipient of three Opus Prizes “International Outreach”, “Contemporary Disc of the Year”, and “Discovery of the Year” as well as the Étoile-Galaxie Prize from Radio-Canada, the Förderpreis Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, the German Record Critics Prize for Arbor Vitae and the 2014 Friends of Canadian Music Award.
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. These recordings appear frequently in Canada on the CBC and on numerous foreign radio stations.
Discography
Hardscrabble Songs - Malcolm Goldstein 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 Collection QB
