Summers/Silvola & Bozzini Quartet

The Bozzini Quartet from Montreal, Canada, is one of the world’s leading string quartets in contemporary music. Now, they’re coming to Tromsø for the first time in a new collaboration with the boundary-pushing folk music duo Summers & Silvola. Since Sarah-Jane performed as a soloist with the quartet in 2017, plans have been in place to further develop this partnership, and now it will be realized at the Northern Lights Festival:

The quartet has commissioned a new piece from Summers & Silvola, which will have its world premiere in Tromsø. The music is an idiosyncratic blend of contemporary music, classical chamber music, and Scottish/Norwegian/Canadian folk music, with improvisational elements that nod to both jazz and free improvisation. The audience will be inspired to both dance and reflect quietly, engaging body, mind, and soul. The entire emotional spectrum is expressed in a soundscape that contrasts the beautiful, light, and airy with rawness, weight, and darkness, taking the listener on a multifaceted and cinematic journey.

Bozzini has been active since 1999 and regularly collaborates with some of the world’s foremost contemporary composers. They have commissioned and premiered around 500 works and have recorded 40 critically acclaimed albums. This will be the quartet’s first visit to Tromsø, where they will also enrich students at the Conservatory with a masterclass.

Sarah-Jane Summers is a world-renowned fiddler and a bearer of the old fiddle tradition from the Scottish Highlands, while Juhani Silvola is a sought-after and versatile guitarist, record producer, and a recognized composer. They have been performing together for 14 years, and all four of their albums have been named "Top of the World" by Songlines magazine.

On stage:
Sarah-Jane Summers – fiddle
Juhani Silvola – guitar and electronics
Clemens Merkel – violin
Alissa Cheung – violin
Stéphanie Bozzini – viola
Isabelle Bozzini – cello