Kinan azmeh “grounded”

“I started working on this piece for the Quatuor Voce in late 2017, but the piece took its final shape and title after a short trip I made on 1 January 2018 to Damascus, my hometown, which I had not visited since 2012. The drive from the Lebanese border to my parents’ place in Damascus evoked a mixture of love, anger and sadness, and yet the most overwhelming feeling during these 48 hours at home was a sense of being grounded:

This is my home, and no one is going to take it away from me.”

Gabriel sivak “suite capoiera”

“Suite Capoeira is a piece in four movements composed in homage to the capoeira, and to Brazil: a journey that begins in the Amazon basin, and descends into the heart of Rio de Janeiro. The capoeira – African in origin, but rooted in northern Brazil – is not just a dance, but also a martial art, even a way of life.”

Vincent Segal “beth klang”

“As a cellist who works ‘across the board’, and as I generally favour oral forms in my work, I wanted to write for four people, and to dialogue in my interpersonal games with Sarah, Cécile, Lydia and Guillaume… The quartet is a marvellous form of theatrical life, and I love the singular character of actors… Think of BethKlang as an anthropological look at life in the community (in a city, a family, groups of adolescents, cultural tribes), where music does not ‘mean’ anything, but is one of the fires of human life. Sound surrounds us, equips us, supports us, exhausts us, right to the end.”

Vincent Peirani “sawah padi / putri Cening Ayu”

“For the Quatuor Voce’s Itinéraire project, I wanted to take my inspiration from Asia, a continent that is dear to me: and more particularly Indonesia, a country for which I have a tremendous affection. I’ve had the time and opportunity to discover this country over several visits, and I’ve made many encounters there, not just with its music, but human contacts as well. Through this piece I wanted to express my gratitude and my profound respect for this people and their culture. Sawah Padi (The Rice Field) / Putri Cening Ayu (Putri, Slender Beauty): is a sort of little suite narrating the story of a working day in the life of a young Balinese girl called Putri, combining different components: original music inspired by Indonesian traditional music, and a Balinese lullaby.”

Kevin seddiki “méditation” et “danse”

“I trained as a guitarist, and first learnt about the zarb, an Iranian percussion instrument, from the Chemirani family, nearly twenty years ago. What began as a wish to improve my understanding of certain rhythms and their underlying ideas finally led me to play the instrument myself, and the zarb (also known as the tombak) very quickly became my second instrument. When the Quatuor Voce asked me to write these pieces, I wanted to see how strings and drumskin could dialogue with each other..”

hamza el din “escalay”

“Escalay depicts the waterwheel being set in motion, and its perpetual cycle. Our musical system is Afro-Arab: we are a musical and cultural bridge between Africa and the Middle East. I wanted the string quartet to represent the sound of my instrument, the oud. The quartet imitates the grinding sound of the gearwheels, the tread of the oxen, and the water as it pours out from the earthenware pot.”