On Tuesday March 22nd, at 8:00 at Eckhardt hall at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg’s Groundswell will present the Bozzini String Quartet. Specializing in experimental classical music, this award winning Canadian string quartet has performed all over the world and has mesmerized audiences with their interpretations of new music for string quartet.
The quartet will feature works by composers with prairie connections. Music by Kris W, Tanya Tagaq, Jim Hiscott, Nicole Lizee, and Allisa Cheung will be performed. There will be three brand new works performed on this concert by the phenomenal Bozzini Quartet.
Curator for this concert Jim Hiscott is really excited to have the quartet perform here in Winnipeg. ”I’ve been really interested in the Bozzini Quartet for a long time…they have been just an exceptional quartet from the very beginning,” states Hiscott.
The Bozzini quartet has had dozens of works written for them and always delivers with the highest level of performance standards. “It’s just incredible their range, and their tastes are just so broad, and they’ve done so much commissioning and recording… the beautiful playing and great performance of all these pieces of music. It’s just incredible when you follow what they are doing, “says Hiscott.
The five composers on the program were chosen party by Jim Hiscott, and partly in collaboration with the Bozzini Quartet. Serendipity did sneak in however, with Hiscott wanting a work to be commissioned from Allisa Cheung, one of the violinists in the quartet. It turns out, the Bozzini’s had already commissioned a quartet from Cheung. Her quartet “du Nord” will be heard on this upcoming concert.
Other works on the program include music by the Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq. This is music that Tagaq composed for throat singers which has been arranged for quartet. This version for string quartet has been performed and recorded by the world famous Kronos Quartet.
There will also be wonderful music by the Winnipeg composer Kris W. Their piece is heavily inspired by a sculpture called “Corten Popies.” The sculpture juxtaposes nature with the severity of weathered steel. These juxtapositions will be portrayed through Kris W.’s music.
Jim Hiscott has also a composed a piece for the Bozzini’s to perform. His piece “Skin” explores the close connections between lines and pitches. Textures that cross, overlap, and musical shapes that are traded off by the different instruments of the Quartet.
The last piece on the program is by Nicole Lizee. Her piece “Hexbreakers” was written for the Bozzini quartet and is described as a portrayal of the Bozzini Quartet in a retro-futurist universe of labyrinthine mazes, riddles, lucid dreaming, deadly board games, ransomware, and backward messages. Lizee has had her works performed all over the world, and her music is always, fun, engaging and thought provoking.
The fee for the concert on March 22nd at 8:00pm at the Eckhardt Hall at the WAG is pay what you can. The wearing of masks is encouraged. GroundSwell’s presentation of the Bozzini Quartet is going to be something that is sure to thrill, and enthrall audiences. Both the musicianship of the quartet and the music they are performing will be a once in a lifetime event to be heard and seen!