Kronos Quartet
David Harrington, Violin
John Sherba, Violin
Hank Dutt, Viola
Jeffrey Zeigler, Cello
For more than 30 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the string quartet. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 45 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of the world’s most eclectic composers and performers, and commissioning more than 650 works and arrangements for string quartet. Kronos’s work also has garnered numerous awards, including a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and Musicians of the Year (2003) from Musical America.
Since 1973, Kronos has built a compellingly diverse repertoire for string quartet, performing and recording works by 20th-century masters (Bartók, Shostakovich, Webern), contemporary composers (Aleksandra Vrebalov, John Adams, Alfred Schnittke), jazz legends (Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk), and artists from even farther afield (Azeri vocalist Alim Qasimov, avant-garde saxophonist John Zorn).
Integral to Kronos’s work is a series of long-running, in-depth collaborations with many of the world’s foremost composers, including Terry Riley, whose work with Kronos includes Salome Dances for Peace, the multimedia production Sun Rings, and 2005’s The Cusp of Magic; Philip Glass, recording his complete string quartets and scores to films like Mishima; Azerbaijan’s Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, who was featured on the 2005 release Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh; Steve Reich, whose Kronos-recorded Different Trains earned a Grammy; Argentina’s Osvaldo Golijov, whose work with Kronos includes both compositions and extensive arrangements; and many more.
In addition to composers, Kronos counts numerous artists from around the world among its regular collaborators, including Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man; legendary Bollywood “playback singer” Asha Bhosle; Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq; Mexican rockers Café Tacuba; and the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks. Kronos has performed live with the likes of icons Allen Ginsberg, Modern Jazz Quartet, Tom Waits, David Barsamian, Howard Zinn, Betty Carter, and David Bowie, and has appeared on recordings by such diverse talents as Nine Inch Nails, Amon Tobin, Dan Zanes, DJ Spooky, Dave Matthews, Nelly Furtado, Rokia Traoré, Joan Armatrading, and Don Walser. Kronos’s music features prominently in other media, including film (Requiem for a Dream, 21 Grams, Heat) and dance, with choreographers such as Merce Cunningham and Eiko and Koma.
Kronos spends five months of each year on tour, appearing in concert halls, clubs, and festivals around the world, including BAM Next Wave Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Barbican in London, WOMAD, UCLA’s Royce Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Shanghai Concert Hall, and the Sydney Opera House. Kronos is equally prolific and wide-ranging on disc. The ensemble’s expansive discography on Nonesuch Records includes such collections as Pieces of Africa (1992), a showcase of African-born composers, which simultaneously topped Billboard’s Classical and World Music lists; 2000’s Kronos Caravan, whose musical “travels” span North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East; 1998’s 10-disc anthology, Kronos Quartet: 25 Years; Nuevo (2002), a Grammy- and Latin Grammy–nominated celebration of Mexican culture; and the 2003 Grammy-winner, Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite.
Kronos’s recording and performances reveal only a fraction of the group’s commitment to new music. As a non-profit organization, the Kronos Quartet / Kronos Performing Arts Association is committed to mentoring emerging professional performers, and to creating, performing, and recording new works.
Terry Riley
California composer Terry Riley launched what is now known as the Minimalist movement with his revolutionary classic In C in 1964. This seminal work changed the course of 20th century music, and its influence has been heard in the works of prominent composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams, as well as in the music of rock groups such as The Who, Soft Machine, Tangerine Dream, and many others.
In 1970, Riley became a disciple of the revered North Indian raga vocalist Pandit Pran Nath and made the first of his numerous trips to India to study with the master. He appeared frequently in concert with the legendary singer as tampura, tabla, and vocal accompanist for a quarter-century, until Pran Nath’s passing in 1996. Riley now regularly performs raga as a vocalist and recently appeared in concert with Zakir Hussain on tabla. In 1999, he performed ragas at the University of Delhi and also performed at the Shivratri festival in Delhi the same year.
While teaching at Mills College in Oakland in the 1970s, Riley met David Harrington, founder of the Kronos Quartet, and they began the long association that has so far produced approximately two dozen works for string quartet, including The Sands—a concerto for string quartet that was the Salzburg Festival’s first-ever new music commission. Cadenza on the Night Plain was selected by both Time and Newsweek as one of the 10 Best Classical Albums of the Year when it was released in the 1980s. The epic five-quartet cycle Salome Dances for Peace was selected as the Classical Album of the Year by USA Today and also was nominated for a Grammy.
Carnegie Hall commissioned Riley’s innovative orchestral piece Jade Palace for its centennial celebration during the 1990–1991 season, premiered by Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Some of the performers and ensembles who have commissioned and performed Riley’s works include the Rova Saxophone Quartet, Arraymusic, Zeitgeist, the Steven Scott Bowed Piano Ensemble, the California E.A.R. Unit, David Tanenbaum, the Assad brothers, the Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio, Werner Bärtschi, and the Amati Quartet.
Riley regularly performs solo piano concerts of his works from the past 30 years. The new millennium began with a tour of a new band, Terry Riley and the All Stars, with the final concert launching the first New Sounds Live concert of the 21st century at Merkin Concert Hall. In May 2000, Riley made his first tour of Russia with solo piano concerts at the Sergey Kuryokin Festival in St. Petersburg and at the Moscow Conservatory.
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