Quatuor Bozzini's LIVE concert at Suoni Per Il Popolo

Cassandra Miller has been a very dear friend of Quatuor Bozzini for many years. Even though she lives in London, our friendship and collaboration continue, including our Artist-in-Residence work with Guildhall School of Music and Drama composers and performers, and a recent commission for a piece for Juliet Fraser (voice) and Quatuor Bozzini that will be developed this summer.

Recently, a Zoom 'work' meeting turned into a warm conversation about horticulture - Cassandra and her roommate Leo Chadburn (another composer friend!) proudly showed us around their garden, with all their flower and vegetable seedlings, and other plants almost ready to be harvested. It was great to see and talk to each other!

Also inspired by nature, Cassandra's Warblework has become one of our 'greatest hits' and a joy for listeners and performers alike.

In 2011, with the help of the Quatuor Bozzini, I finally made good on my promise and created the piece Warblework. Each of Warblework's four movements (warble = chirp) is based on birdsong - in particular of four thrushes (Swainson's thrush, hermit thrush, wood thrush, veery thrush) - whose songs follow the harmonic series. When this birdsong is slowed down, they reveal incredibly human-like melodies. While the thrushes move through the harmonic series, a tune in slow motion reveals melodies accented in folk and old jazz standard traditions. These four movements therefore put forth a sort of poem of the regional sounds from the Pacific Coast and its forests." - Cassandra Miller