Additional Information
For the Semaine du Neuf, the Quatuor Bozzini celebrates 25 years of professional activity in the service of creative music, with creations by three exceptional composers: Michael Oesterle, Linda Catlin Smith and Martin Arnold – read our other interview on this subject. For this very special occasion, PAN M 360 is publishing two interviews with the members of this excellent Montreal quartet: Alissa Cheung, violin, Clemens Merkel, violin, Stéphanie Bozzini, viola, Isabelle Bozzini, cello. The concert will be presented this Friday, March 14, 7:30pm, at the Music Media Room. An interview with the members of Bozzini is dedicated exclusively to this concert, and we’ll be talking about this quarter-century of musical life, which is no mean feat!
PANM 360: L’effusion d’amitié, L’effusione d’amicizia to use the Italian title of La Semaine du Neuf’s program is a fitting title for this commemoration, isn’t it? Could it have something to do with the partly Italian origins of sisters Isabelle and Stéphanie? In any case, we’re guessing that friendship still reigns!
Stéphanie Bozzini: Certainly, friendship still reigns! This specific title is borrowed from a work by Michael Oesterle (with his permission) for solo violin or viola, l’effusione d’amicizia, written in 1996, which Clemens and I have both played a few times.
Isabelle Bozzini: My sister let the cat out of the bag… So it doesn’t come from our Swiss-Italian roots, even if it does them credit. This nod to one of Michael’s early works fits the context like a glove: creations by musicians with whom we’ve developed great artistic affinities over the years, and also solid friendships. We thought it was a good way to pay tribute to our 3 friends, colleagues and collaborators of several decades. The title aptly describes our relationship with them.
Clemens Merkel: It’s also a metaphor for all the friendships we’ve developed over the past 25 years. Because the starting point of our creative work always begins with the relationship with composers and other artists. And if we’re lucky, to quote the film Casablanca, “this is the beginning of a great friendship!
Stéphanie Bozzini: In a way, too, it’s a nod to friendship in general, to empathy, compassion, listening and sharing, which we need so much these days.
PAN M 360: Could each of you give us a personal account of your raison d’être as a quartet?
Alissa Cheung: Playing in a string quartet is a very rich experience. Not only can we count on a great heritage and canon of composed works, but we have the artistic privilege of commissioning and helping to determine the masterpieces of our time.
Clemens Merkel: The balance is optimal in terms of instrumentation, but also democratically, since we are all artistic directors and self-producers of our ensemble. We work well as a team and also enjoy working with other collaborators along our artistic journey, be they sound, visual, theater or dance artists.
It may sound a bit odd, but the first reason I started playing string quartet with Isabelle and Stéphanie was because I needed the money. When I came to Montreal in 1998, I was still going back to Germany quite often for engagements, but as I wasn’t present enough there, the engagements declined. However, I had no network in Montreal, I hadn’t studied here and I had virtually no contacts. When the Bozzini had to replace one of their violinists, I naturally took over. I haven’t regretted it for a second, and now I can’t imagine doing anything else. Of course, I also used my contacts in Europe to introduce the quartet to Europe right from the start. To this day, it’s one of our main focuses.
Stéphanie Bozzini: We’re privileged to be in this business, it’s an opportunity and with it comes responsibility towards creators and the public. It’s always on our radar. The 4 of us are in constant conversation with our collaborators. It’s a very intimate job.
PAN M 360: Remind us of the early days of Bozzini?
Isabelle Bozzini: With our student quartet, we met Michael Oesterle at the NEM Forum in 1996. He was a talented, outspoken young composer who impressed us with his extraordinarily loquacious manner! So we commissioned a string quartet from him, the first professional commission supported by the CAC for both him and us. Meanwhile, at the suggestion of German composer Gerhard Stäbler, Michael invited Clemens Merkel to Ensemble KORE’s founding concert in 1997. These 2 events reshuffled the deck and led, through a meeting at the Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur, to a story of love and immigration, and the founding of Quatuor Bozzini… jokingly, we say that Michael and Guy Soucie were the quartet’s godparents!
Isabelle Bozzini: Clemens brought us a wealth of expertise and know-how acquired early in his career in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, where he played with numerous ensembles and worked with the greatest composers and conductors. This was a great inspiration to us, and also enabled us to reconnect with our European roots. At the same time, we had our Quebecois and North American know-how; from the outset we embraced this duality and worked to cultivate our relationships with local creators from all generations.
Clemens Merkel: When I started playing with the quartet, it had another name that I didn’t find particularly elegant or practical. That’s why I insisted on changing the name and suggested the surname of the two Bozzini sisters, following the tradition of naming the quartet after the primarius, but now after the “bass and rhythm section”. Interestingly, my father-in-law was a bit stung at first that we hadn’t asked permission to use his name. He had overlooked the fact that it’s also his daughters’ name! In the meantime, the name has become a brand, and should not be underestimated.
Stéphanie Bozzini: I remember our motivation, our pleasure in discovering new music, our energy – as only young people can have! and long rehearsals to fine-tune many details. Our first European tour was a real highlight. We met members of the Wandelweiser collective, including Jürg Frey, and played his music for the first time on that tour in 2001. In the pre-iPad days, we used to cobble together works of art from scores, and I remember one piece we received by fax, one page at a time!
PAN M 360: How did each of you join the quartet?
Isabelle Bozzini: I fell in love with the string quartet back in 1987, when Marcel St-Cyr and Tom Williams gave me permission to play in a quartet instead of the McGill University Orchestra. In 1994, I fulfilled this dream by founding a student quartet with my sister Stéphanie, 50% of which was dedicated to creation. After a few concerts, competitions and projects, and the arrival of Clemens in Montreal at the end of 1997 to found the Kore Ensemble (Oesterle/Courroux), we naturally made the transition in 1998 to become the Quatuor Bozzini, with a profile frankly dedicated to creation. For me, it’s simply the choice that has always inspired me most as a string player, and as long as you find “kindred spirits” to lead the project, you’ve got to hang on against all odds!
Alissa Cheung: Around 2013, the quartet was looking for a violinist. Laura Andriani was a mutual friend and knew I was looking for a professional change-from my position as violinist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. In the fall of 2013, I auditioned in person in Montreal, which included excerpts from James Tenney, Beethoven, Walter Boudreau, Jo Kondo and Thomas Stiegler. We also talked about our career and artistic goals. In the spring of 2014, we gave a few concerts together as part of the Salon qb recital series, featuring music by Maxime McKinley, Denis Gougeon and John Cage, and it was clear that this was the right choice for everyone. Eleven years later, we’re still together and in great shape!
Clemens Merkel: I came to Montreal for the first time at the end of 1997, and then more and more often and for longer periods from 1998 onwards. But first it was for personal reasons, if I can put it that way. Then I decided to move completely to Montreal, and this was certainly a risky decision, as I had already worked very successfully in Germany for almost a decade with various ensembles and as a soloist. When I started playing with the quartet, there were only a few concerts a year, and doing it full-time was out of the question. That only came later, when we decided to put everything on one card and push the quartet as hard as we could. It worked out well.
Stéphanie Bozzini: After our studies, the QB was a continuation of our student quartet at the time. Working with composers, including in the contemporary music workshops at UdM with Lorraine Vaillancourt, really inspired us to continue. Initially, we all had other personal projects in addition to the quartet. We realized that the potential was there and that it would be much more satisfying if we dedicated ourselves full-time to the quartet. It was a risky gamble, but we took it, and we don’t regret it!
PAN M 360: What would each of you say are your particular qualities as performers in the quartet?
Isabelle Bozzini: For me, rhythm has always come first, and I take my role as “bass” very seriously! I worked a lot as a baroque musician, and developed a keen sense of harmonic conduct and chord resonance. When we started out, we focused a lot on the sound, which we wanted to be “straight”. We insisted on playing absolutely everything without vibrato! We developed our own sense of ensemble sound. But I’d say that pretty much the whole quartet swims in the same waters. I remember a conversation with the Hilliard Ensemble in which they explained that one was in charge of pitch, the other of rhythm, the other of balance, etc. In the Quatuor Bozzini, I don’t see as many clearly demarcated boundaries. I confess that I sometimes get impatient with my colleagues by insisting on working on a detail in a few bars… others have a sense and a more urgent need to access the big picture!
Alissa Cheung: Compositional perspective, sense of flow or energy for phrases and overall structure, communicating the emotional content of the music to the audience.
Stéphanie Bozzini: Pragmatism, listening, thinking, the ability to find common ground and compromise (I’m writing this, but I realize it applies to all of us!). Musically, sound, flow, balance and intention guide my work. Getting back to the basics, and “gossiping” about the details I find very important and satisfying too. But I prefer the liberating feeling of throwing myself into the form as a whole. Lightening the mood by cracking a joke, I like to make my colleagues smile.
Clemens Merkel: The big picture is very important to me, the stylistic questions, the aspects of sound, the flow of the music. These are things that often go beyond the individual passage or even the piece. What we do has to be clear, well thought-out and logical, and always have our own character. But then, of course, it’s always about the details, the tiny adjustments in bowing, rhythm and intonation. It’s really always a team effort, and the quartet is only as good as the strengths of the four members combined in such a way that the result is more than just the sum of the four.
PAN M 360: What is the experience of artistic direction and choice of works for your programs? Does an artistic director decide after brainstorming? How does that work?
Isabelle Bozzini: My colleagues often tease me, calling me “the big man” or “the queen”, but in reality we’ve been working in collaborative mode since the very beginning, 2.0 avant la lettre. Our horizontal structure allows us both great flexibility and enthusiastic investment by our members and collaborators in the “Quatuor Bozzini” project! Collectively, we regularly question our choices, pick and choose what we want to explore, and foster sustained conversation and close collaboration with the artists who compose for us. It has to be said that over the years, we have been very well surrounded, not to mention the rich repertoire that exists for quartet. And of course, we have a taste for adventure and co-creation, whether in music or other disciplines. All these encounters have nourished us and helped us grow artistically.
Alissa Cheung: For us, music and composition are always at the forefront. We don’t feel the need to flaunt our skills as musicians, but we do want to communicate music that has a strong voice and perhaps experiments with an idea that is rarely adopted by other, more conventional composers. Sometimes the context of artistic choice changes, for example, between festival commissions and workshops, but we usually manage to agree on who we want to work with. And of course, if we have a good experience of working with composers, we want to continue this collaboration for as long as possible, as the Effusione di Amicizia program proves.
Clemens Merkel: As Isabelle says above, we’re all involved in the artistic direction and also in the administration of our company. I think that’s one of our strengths: that all four of us identify very strongly with what we play and what we do, with all the projects, concerts, tours, CDs, workshops. We see it as a unit where each element contributes to the overall picture. Proof of this is the fact that we can build long-term relationships with composers, with those who took part in the “Composer’s Kitchen” with us over 15 years ago now returning as mentors. For us, it’s a sign that we’ve done things right, the way we wanted to, in our own way.
Stéphanie Bozzini: Sharing decisions and directions between the four of us is the strength of our quartet. This was very important 25 years ago, and it hasn’t changed. Our affinities with the music we program dictate our artistic decisions. And in a sense, it’s the quartet that decides (this organization—almost literally—that we created!). Discovering new languages, new ways of doing things, and thinking outside the box are things that have always attracted us and motivate our artistic decisions.
PAN M 360: Can we talk about cycles in the evolution of Bozzini over 25 years?
Isabelle Bozzini: I would say yes. When we were considering a multi-year plan a few years ago, we identified a few “epochs” for Bozzini. The first, from about 2000 to 2007, was a cycle of research: our identity, our sound, the aesthetics that spoke to us. The construction of our network, and the beginning of ongoing relationships with numerous artists. The period when we established the “broad outlines.” The second, from about 2008 to 2018, I called it a period of expansion, of growth. We expanded our networks, diversified our support, and multiplied our activities, both locally and across Canada and internationally. It was also the period when we began to develop our interdisciplinary projects (Hozhro, Ange Noir, Une idée sinon vraie, etc.). The next, I called it “maturity.” Having emerged from our “eternal succession” state, we had a certain sense of accomplishment, and more means to achieve our ambitions. This was short-lived, since we soon fell into the “reinvention” pot, which unfortunately seems to want to take root! But hey, it forces us not to rest on our laurels…
Clemens Merkel: It’s a bit like in real life. There are these cycles of about seven years if you look at 2000 to 2007, 2007 to 2014, and 2014 to about 2020. This means we’re still in this COVID and post-COVID cycle. Perhaps it’s reassuring to see that we have a new cycle around 2027, which will hopefully be quite wonderful.
PAN M 360: What do you think are the most significant programs in your history?
Isabelle Bozzini: A few milestones stand out for me: The three concerts of our first official series (October 20, 2020, February 9, and May 11, 2021), whose programming we had discussed and weighed extensively. Each concert featured a Charles Ives quartet, a work from the New York School (Feldman, Cage, Wolff), and two Quebec works combining emerging and established artists (six in total, including four premieres: Jérôme Blais, Justin Mariner (premiere), Luc Marcel (premiere), John Rea, Michael Oesterle (premiere), and Jean Lesage (premiere); The world premiere in May 2001 in Düsseldorf of Jürg Frey’s Streich Quartet No. 2 “L’Événement Wandelweiser” (The Wandelweiser Event) as part of our residency at the Théâtre La Chapelle in September 2003. During our residency at the TLC for two years, we also presented In Tempore Belli (Crumb and Reich), and our first Composer’s Kitchen in spring 2005; “La Quadrature du Cercle” (The Quadrature of the Circle) in 2006, where, at the invitation of the SMCQ, we presented a particularly virtuoso program, featuring the world premieres of Denys Bouliane’s Rumore Sui, Jean Lesage’s String Quartet No. 3 “Objets trouvés, commentaires et digressions” (Found Objects, Commentaries and Digressions), and Walter Boudreau’s Le Grand Méridien;
The creation of a four-handed work by Joane Hétu and Jean Derome, Le Mensonge et l’Identité; The creation of Hozhro, our first major interdisciplinary co-production project, for which we quickly had a hard time! And the good fortune to have a fantastic team with whom we developed the project from 2006 to 2009: Michel Gonneville (composition and texts), Mario Côté (video), Pierre Thibault (installation and scenography), Danièle Desnoyers (choreography and direction); Ange Noir at OFFTA in 2011! Having commissioned a text from Jean-Frédéric Messier in 2007 to accompany George Crumb’s Black Angels as part of a narrated youth concert at the Klangspuren Festival in Austria, we had the distinct honor of being part of one of the last productions of the illustrious MOMENTUM! Theatre; The concerts with Alvin Lucier and Pauline Oliveros at the 2015 SIP Festival, one of our favorites of all the concerts we presented with this great-little festival! Every moment with Alvin was poetic…; The fantastic residency with Eliane Radigue in July 2017, which led to the premiere of Occam Delta XV at Suoni in 2018, and several times since; Spring 2021, where we recorded the complete works of Christian Wolff, Michael Oesterle, Tom Johnson, and Bryn Harrison (and previous albums dedicated to Linda Smith, Cassandra Miller, and Ana Sokolovic!);
All Composer’s Kitchen workshops and concerts since 2005;
Our show Innamorati, developed with the formidable puppeteer Marcelle Hudon.
We just presented a third series with the CAM on tour, and this is only the beginning!
I already regret those I haven’t mentioned, but I have to stop before writing the full biography!
Alissa Cheung: Wigmore Hall December 3, 2022 – the complete quartets of Gerald Barry interspersed with works by Cassandra Miller, Michael Oesterle, Claude Vivier, and Tanya Tagaq;
Trip November 12, 2020 – unofficially our 20th anniversary concert with works by Christopher Butterfield, Cassandra Miller, Michael Oesterle, Thomas Stiegler, and Jennifer Walshe;
An Idea Otherwise True 2019-2020 – music by Ana Sokolović with Marc Boivin, dance;
SIPFest August 10, 2018 – closing concert of a residency with young Indonesian composers
Clemens Merkel: Difficult question, there are so many. Of course, certain programs and projects stand out. But for me, it’s the long-term relationships that develop over many years that stand out. To name a few: Michael Oesterle, Jürg Frey, Cassandra Miller, but also Ana Sokolovic, Jimmie Leblanc, Christian Wolff, Eliane Radigue, and many others. I can’t—or don’t want to—separate art and human relationships. It’s just as important for the quartet that we pay as much attention to a piece by a young composer in a workshop as to a piece by a very well-known composer with whom we’ve been working for a long time. Perhaps that’s not the point of this question, but interpersonal relationships, especially with young artists, are extremely important to us.
Stéphanie Bozzini: Our multidisciplinary projects, which have always been initiated by reflections that go beyond the framework of a string quartet in recital, push us and often lead us to venture into unknown territory, sometimes in uncomfortable situations (!), but always with the idea of moving forward: Une idée Sinon vraie (dance), Innamorati (shadow theater, puppets), Ange Noir (theater), Musique de chambre noire, Les Petites Portes (video), etc.
The marathon concerts, the first being the Quartet’s Odyssey in 2001 at the Théâtre La Chapelle, then Wigmore Hall 2022, Aldeburgh Festival 2023, and the BBC’s Hear and Now series in 2007 (which influenced a whole generation of young British composers who heard a quartet playing without vibrato, with a very stripped-down aesthetic, and from which many drew inspiration).
Our concerts and programs resulting from long collaborations over the years: Eliane Radigue, Jürg Frey, Michael Osterle, Martin Arnold, James Tenney, Alvin Lucier, Christian Wolff.
Programming local composers who are rarely performed internationally, through our role as ambassadors of Canadian and Quebec creation: e.g., Jimmie Leblanc at Gaudeamus in the Netherlands, which received a truly positive reception, is a recent example that comes to mind, to name just one.
On a personal level, the projects/programs where we were able to establish very strong and lasting relationships with our collaborators. These exchanges add a whole new dimension to the work.
PAN M 360: What are each of you most proud of having accomplished in this quartet?
Isabelle Bozzini: Staying the course, with all the ups and downs of the profession, and the thousands of aspects to understand/learn to steer the ship. Keeping the fire burning, to return to the work each day with pleasure. Learning patience, among ourselves and with our collaborators; vigilance is essential. Cultivate curiosity and a sense of risk, to enable every little miracle of creation!
Alissa Cheung: Human relationships and the community of all our collaborators.
Stéphanie Bozzini: The idea of having created an organization. Almost literally, it’s constantly evolving, where everyone finds their place, where listening is prioritized, where everyone adapts. We pool our strengths to advance our mission. To be there for each other in times of need. Proud to have persevered despite the difficulties and challenges. Proud of the connections we establish and maintain among ourselves, with the people who support us at the office, and also with all the artists and friends we’ve met over the past 25 years. It’s very enriching.
Clemens Merkel: When we start our careers as young musicians, we never know exactly where it will lead us. The quartet has given us a clear direction; it is a task and also an obligation (perhaps a very German idea). That is, an obligation to my colleagues, to the composers who trust us and give us their music. I am very proud that we have managed to live and survive as a quartet in an environment here in Quebec and Canada where there is not much of a so-called “market,” all while playing the music we deem important. Playing music from Montreal, Quebec, and Canada in Europe, bringing music from Europe here. It is a body of work that has developed over the years, consisting of many elements that fit together like a large puzzle. Of course, I am proud of many individual events, concerts, projects, but after so many years, this is actually what fills me with satisfaction and at the same time gives me the motivation to continue as long as I can.
PAN M 360: Do you think this Semaine du Neuf concert is the most important of your 25th anniversary season?
Clemens Merkel: It’s always the next concert that’s the most important!
Isabelle Bozzini: I quite agree with Clemens…! It’s a flagship concert of our 25th anniversary, but we chose to celebrate throughout 2025, because a quarter-century deserves to be celebrated in a big way, and because this year we have a particularly exciting series of events.
PAN M 360: Summarize the concerts already presented in this context and those coming up before the end of this season? Needless to say, we’ll talk about them again in other articles.
Isabelle Bozzini: After Effusione d’Amicizia at Semaine du Neuf, there will be the premiere of the opera Hiroshima Mon Amour in co-production with Carte Blanche and Chants Libres at the FTA, interspersed with several appearances at major German festivals, Witten and Darmstadt. A concert at Suoni Per Il Popolo (also celebrating its 25th anniversary!) with Sarah Hennies. The premiere on August 15 at Time:Spans of works by Cassandra Miller, Zosha Di Castri, and Taylor Brook, a major co-commissioned project with Le Vivier and Soundstreams (Toronto), works that will be performed in Montreal in October and in Toronto in 2026. In September, a return to Gaudeamus and a first appearance at Musica Strasbourg, and much more. To be continued!
