Kronos Quartet concludes its adventurous season-long Carnegie Hall Perspectives series this March, collaborating with numerous artists from around the globe in four concerts on four consecutive nights from Thursday, March 11 to Sunday, March 14 in Zankel Hall. The concerts explore a variety of dynamic themes, outlined below, that reflect the far-reaching explorations that Kronos has undertaken in more than 30 years of work.During its March Perspectives residency, Kronos—regarded as unparalleled commissioners of new music and the utmost collaborators—performs premieres by Terry Riley, JG Thirlwell, and Derek Charke, among others, while collaborating with such artists as electronic music duo Matmos, Portuguese instrument builder and composer Victor Gama, Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq, Swedish post-modern folk duo Hurdy-Gurdy, mugham singers Alim and Fargana Qasimov, Korean artist Dohee Lee, Afghan rubab master Homayoun Sakhi, the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, and many more. In these programs, Kronos also highlights distinctive solo work by toy piano virtuoso Margaret Leng Tan, Finnish kantele player Ritva Koistinen, and the Finnish accordion/sampler duo of Kimmo Pohjonen & Samuli Kosminen, whose performances thematically connect to Kronos’ chosen areas of exploration.
Kronos launched its Perspectives in November 2009 in a performance with Chinese pipa player Wu Man, who will join the quartet again to conclude the residency in March with a weeklong Professional Training Workshop for three young string quartets and two pipa players. Presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, the workshop will include one public master class on Wednesday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall and a final concert by the participating musicians on Sunday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall. Repertoire to be studied will consist of a broad range of compositions and arrangements written for and championed by Kronos from such composers as Aviya Kopelman, Osvaldo Golijov, Tan Dun, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Terry Riley, and Aleksandra Vrebalov, including collaborative works for pipa and string quartet.
“In the last 35 years there have been 650 pieces written for Kronos,” says Artistic Director David Harrington about his quartet’s Perspectives. “I want our audience to have a sense of as much of the scope of the work of Kronos and the extent of the relationships that we have with many wonderful composers and performers as possible. And we’re going to be exploring what it means to be a musician in our time. In many cases we need translators at our rehearsals. In each concert our instruments will evolve. I don’t think that in all of the years of Kronos we’ve ever assembled a collection of concerts like this.”
For more information on Perspectives: Kronos Quartet, including video interviews with David Harrington on each of the programs, visit Sound Insights at carnegiehall.org.
March 2010 Perspectives: Kronos Quartet events are as follows:
March 11: Kronos Celebrates Terry Riley
On Thursday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m., Kronos Quartet celebrates 30 years of collaboration with composer Terry Riley—as well as the composer’s upcoming 75th birthday—a relationship that has resulted in 25 new works and stretches from the premiere of Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector in 1980 through the acclaimed all-star performance of In C that sold out Carnegie Hall last year. This program includes the New York premiere of Transylvanian Horn Courtship, which draws inspiration from Riley’s legendary Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band performances of the 1960s and features specially-designed string instruments with metal horns created for Kronos by MacArthur Fellow Walter Kitundu. The program will feature other recent Riley works and commissions for Kronos including the world premiere of Another Secret eQuation with the Young People’s Chorus of NYC and the New York premiere of The Welcoming Baptism of Sweet Daisy Grace (the most recent piece Riley has written for Kronos, in celebration of the birth of his granddaughter) as well as “One Earth, One People, One Love” from Sun Rings and Good Medicine from Salome Dances for Peace.
VIDEO INTRODUCTION to Kronos Celebrates Terry Riley, including an interview with David Harrington.
March 12: Playing with Toys & Technology
For its second concert on Friday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m., Kronos revisits the joy in discovering new sounds through new means in a program that focuses on musical sounds from unlikely sources. Kronos performs the world premiere of Eremikophobia (fear of deserts or sand) by composer JG Thirlwell (aka Foetus), which utilizes technology capable of capturing tones emitted by the desert. Thirlwell was inspired by the “singing sands” or “booming dunes,” an environmental acoustic phenomenon in which a sand dune will create a low frequency roaring from the sand moving across the dune. Kronos turns part of the program over to toy piano virtuoso Margaret Leng Tan who will summon the forces of a full toy orchestra for the New York premieres of Erik Griswold’s Old MacDonald’s Yellow Submarine and Ge Gan-ru’s Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! Griswold’s playful and nostalgic work explores childhood sounds by utilizing toy piano, wood block, bicycle bell and horn, and train whistle, while Ge’s work is a Peking opera-inspired melodrama for voice and myriad toy instruments.
Portuguese-Angolan instrument builder and composer Victor Gama is featured next, performing his multimedia solo work SOL(t)O on a variety of his own hand-crafted pangeia instrumentos—contemporary updates of traditional African instruments. Kronos also gives the world premiere of Gama’s three-movement work Rio Cunene, playing their own instruments for the first part and Gama’s pangeia instrumentos in the third. The second movement of Rio Cunene is performed entirely on instruments constructed from remnant military materials by children from war-torn Angola—the magazine of a Kalashnikov machine gun, an empty capsule of an artillery shell, a guitar sculpted from a piece of wood with metal from a military vehicle as a sound board, and an empty bullet box.
The program concludes with experimental electronic music duo Matmos joining Kronos Quartet for the New York premiere of Matmos’s work For Terry Riley, which uses samplers, synthesizers, tape deck, pedal steel guitar, and other objects to manipulate snippets of Riley’s work Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector (Kronos’s first collaboration with Riley in 1980) into a hybrid that joins Matmos’s rhythmic approach with an homage to the composer whose legacy inspires them all.
VIDEO INTRODUCTION to Playing with Toys & Technology, including an interview with David Harrington.
March 13: Tundra Songs
On Saturday, March 13 at 10:00 p.m., Kronos concludes an evening devoted to music from the Arctic Circle with the New York premiere of Canadian composer Derek Charke’s Tundra Songs featuring the raw, primal music-making of Inuit throat-singer Tanya Tagaq. The clarity and directness of music from the Far North will also be heard through traditional folk instruments and contemporary electronic means alike. The program begins with the ethereal plucked strings of Finnish kantele player Ritva Koistinen performing both traditional and modern solo works, including Arvo Pärt’s Pari Intervallo. The primitive sounds of the ancient Swedish hurdy gurdy, electronically processed by the duo Hurdy-Gurdy (Stefan Brisland-Ferner & Totte Mattsson), are heard next, both as a duet and through collaboration with Kronos on the New York premiere of their work Scatter. Following intermission, the muscular and rhythmic music of Finnish accordion/sampler duo Kimmo Pohjonen & Samuli Kosminen creates a maelstrom of multi-dimensional music combining Pohjonen’s accordion and voice with live loops, effects, and surround sound courtesy of Kosminen.
VIDEO INTRODUCTION to Tundra Songs, including an interview with David Harrington.
March 14: Music Without Borders
Musicians worldwide have traditionally borne the responsibility of channeling the spiritual and of being ambassadors of their cultural heritage. On Sunday, March 14 at 7:30 p.m., Kronos performs a program highlighting such traditional music from Central and East Asia, traveling from the shamanistic performance of Korean artist Dohee Lee, with whom they’ll perform the New York premiere of Lee’s Sinawi, to the varied landscapes and textures created by Afghan rubâb master Homayoun Sakhi, and to the ecstatic spiritual expression of mugam from Azerbaijan with the Alim Qasimov Ensemble featuring acclaimed mugam singers Alim and Fargana Qasimov. The collaborations between Kronos, Sakhi, and the Qasimovs are also documented on a new CD, Rainbow: Music of Central Asia Vol. 8, to be released March 30 on the Smithsonian Folkways label.
VIDEO INTRODUCTION to Music Without Borders, including an interview with David Harrington.
March 14–21: Professional Training Workshop
Kronos Quartet concludes its Perspectives series by leading a weeklong Professional Training Workshop, presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, from March 14 to March 21. Working with three young professional string quartets and two pipa players, Kronos, in its second Carnegie Hall workshop since 2007, will give insight on commissioned repertoire they have championed for decades, including collaborative repertoire for string quartet and pipa with guest faculty Wu Man. As part of the workshop, Kronos gives a public master class on Wednesday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall and the three young quartets will perform a closing concert in Zankel Hall on Sunday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. Participating quartets are The Annex Quartet from Canada, the Callino Quartet from Ireland, and the Ragazze Quartet from the Netherlands, which will join pipa players Wei-Mao Huang (from Taiwan) and Jin Yang (from China) for the collaborative works. Repertoire to be studied includes Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera and Terry Riley’s The Cusp of Magic (for string quartet and pipa), as well as works by Aviya Kopelman, Osvaldo Golijov, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Astor Piazzolla, and Aleksandra Vrebalov.
VIDEO INTRODUCTION to Kronos’s Professional Training Workshop, including an interview with David Harrington.
About Kronos Quartet
For more than 30 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet—David Harrington, John Sherba (violins), Hank Dutt (viola), and Jeffrey Zeigler (cello)—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’ work has also garnered numerous awards, including a Grammy Award 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' 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, including recording his complete string quartets and scores to films like Mishima; Azerbaijan's Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, featured on the 2005 release Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh; Steve Reich, whose Kronos-recorded Different Trains earned a Grammy Award; 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; the legendary Bollywood "playback singer" Asha Bhosle, featured on Kronos' Grammy-nominated CD You’ve Stolen My Heart: Songs from R.D. Burman's Bollywood; 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' 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 & Koma setting pieces to Kronos' music.
The Quartet 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 the Nonesuch label includes collections like 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 ten-disc anthology, Kronos Quartet: 25 Years; Nuevo (2002), a Grammy- and Latin Grammy Award-nominated celebration of Mexican culture; and the 2003 Grammy Award-winner, Alban Berg's Lyric Suite.
Kronos' 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.
Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives
Now in its eleventh season, Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives series is an artistic initiative in which select musicians are invited to explore their own musical individuality and create their own personal concert series through collaborations with other musicians and ensembles. Previous Perspectives artists have included conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim; conductors Pierre Boulez, James Levine, Michael Tilson Thomas, and David Robertson; violinist Gidon Kremer; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Leif Ove Andsnes, Martha Argerich, Emanuel Ax, Maurizio Pollini, Peter Serkin, and Mitsuko Uchida; soprano Dawn Upshaw; bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff; the Emerson String Quartet; Senegalese vocalist Youssou N’Dour; Brazilian singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso; Indian classical tabla player Zakir Hussain; and experimental rocker David Byrne.
Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
KRONOS QUARTET
Zankel Hall
Kronos Quartet
David Harrington, Violin
John Sherba, Violin
Hank Dutt, Viola
Jeffrey Zeigler, Cello
Young People's Chorus of New York City
Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director
KRONOS CELEBRATES TERRY RILEY
ALL-TERRY RILEY PROGRAM
TERRY RILEY Another Secret eQuation (World Premiere)
TERRY RILEY Transylvanian Horn Courtship (NY Premiere)
TERRY RILEY The Welcoming Baptism of Sweet Daisy Grace (NY Premiere)
TERRY RILEY "One Earth, One People, One Love" from Sun Rings
TERRY RILEY Good Medicine from Salome Dances for Peace
Tickets: $32, $52
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Friday, March 12, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
KRONOS QUARTET
MARGARET LENG TAN
VICTOR GAMA
MATMOS
Kronos Quartet
David Harrington, Violin
John Sherba, Violin
Hank Dutt, Viola
Jeffrey Zeigler, Cello
Margaret Leng Tan, Toy Piano, Toy Orchestra, and Vocals
Victor Gama, Pangeia Instrumentos
Matmos
Drew Daniel, Electronics
M.C. Schmidt, Electronics
PLAYING WITH TOYS & TECHNOLOGY
JAMES THIRLWELL Eremikophobia (World Premiere)
ERIK GRISWOLD Old MacDonald's Yellow Submarine (NY Premiere)
GE GAN-RU Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! (NY Premiere)
VICTOR GAMA SOL(t)O
VICTOR GAMA Rio Cunene (World Premiere)
MATMOS For Terry Riley (NY Premiere)
Tickets: $28, $42
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Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 10:00 p.m.
Zankel Hall
KRONOS QUARTET
RITVA KOISTINEN
HURDY-GURDY
KIMMO POHJONEN & SAMULI KOSMINEN
TANYA TAGAQ
Kronos Quartet
David Harrington, Violin
John Sherba, Violin
Hank Dutt, Viola
Jeffrey Zeigler, Cello
Ritva Koistinen, Kantele
Hurdy-Gurdy
Stefan Brisland-Ferner, Hurdy Gurdy and Electronics
Totte Mattsson, Hurdy Gurdy and Electronics
Kimmo Pohjonen, Accordion and Voice
Samuli Kosminen, Accordion Samples and Voice Samples
Tanya Tagaq, Vocals
TUNDRA SONGS
TRADITIONAL Church Bells of Konevitsa (arr. Paul Salminen and Ritva Koistinen)
ERKKI SALMENHAARA Inventio (Invention)
KARIN REHNQVIST Interludes for Kantele
TOIVO ELOVAARA Forest Lake
ARVO PÄRT Pari Intervallo
STEFAN BRISLAND-FERNER Delirium
TRADITIONAL Ynglingen (arr. Hurdy-Gurdy)
TRADITIONAL Maran (arr. Totte Mattson)
TRADITIONAL Spindelleken (arr. Hurdy-Gurdy)
HURDY-GURDY Scatter (NY Premiere)
KIMMO POHJONEN & SAMULI KOSMINEN Reaktio
KIMMO POHJONEN Ulaani
KIMMO POHJONEN Kluster
KIMMO POHJONEN & SAMULI KOSMINEN Kalma
KIMMO POHJONEN Voima
DEREK CHARKE Tundra Songs (NY Premiere)
Tickets: $28, $42
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Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
KRONOS QUARTET
DOHEE LEE
HOMAYOUN SAKHI
ALIM QASIMOV ENSEMBLE
Kronos Quartet
David Harrington, Violin
John Sherba, Violin
Hank Dutt, Viola
Jeffrey Zeigler, Cello
Dohee Lee, Vocals, Piri, Shruti, and Saenghwang
Homayoun Sakhi, Afghan Rubâb
Salar Nadar, Tabla
Abbos Kosimov, Doyra
Alim Qasimov Ensemble
Alim Qasimov, Vocals and Daf
Fargana Qasimova, Vocals and Daf
Rafael Asgarov, Balaban
Rauf Islamov, Kamancha
Zaki Valiyev, Tar
Javiden Nabiyev, Naghara
MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS
DOHEE LEE (realized by J. GARCHIK) Sinawi (NY Premiere)
DOHEE LEE Meegung (Labyrinth) (NY Premiere)
HOMAYOUN SAKHI (arr. S. PRUTSMAN) Rangin Kaman (The Rainbow) (NY Premiere)
JAHANGIR JAHANGIROV (arr. A. QASIMOV / J. GARCHIK) Köhlen Atim (My spirited horse)
(US Premiere)
arr. A. QASIMOV / J. GARCHIK Peyman Ettik (I gave my word) (US Premiere)
SHAFIGA OKHUNDOVA (arr. A. QASIMOV / J. GARCHIK) Mehriban Olaq (Let's be kind)
(US Premiere)
SAID RUSTAMOV (arr. A. QASIMOV / J. GARCHIK) Getme, Getme (Don't leave, don't leave)
(US Premiere)
arr. A. QASIMOV / J. GARCHIK Qashlarin Kamandir (Your eyebrows are bow-like) (US Premiere)
Tickets: $28, $42
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KRONOS QUARTET WORKSHOP
Expanding the String Quartet Repertoire
For String Quartets
March 14–21, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Weill Recital Hall
KRONOS QUARTET MASTER CLASS
The Annex Quartet
Callino Quartet
Ragazze Quartet
Wei-Mao Huang, Pipa
Jin Yang, Pipa
Tickets: $15
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Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
KRONOS QUARTET YOUNG ARTISTS CONCERT
The Annex Quartet
Callino Quartet
Ragazze Quartet
Wei-Mao Huang, Pipa
Jin Yang, Pipa
Tickets: $15
Professional Training Workshops are made possible, in part, by Mr. and Mrs. Nicola Bulgari and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.
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Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.