< Kronos in Concert

Kronos presents programs of eclectic and diverse repertoire from around the world, featuring new works by Bryce Dessner, Hanna Kulenty, Michael Gordon, Thomas Newman, Missy Mazzoli, Steve Reich, Jon Rose, Maria Schneider, Rahayu Supanggah, J.G. Thirlwell, and Aleksandra Vrebalov.

< Kronos in Collaboration

Having created new work with hundreds of artists during its thirty-plus years, Kronos is known for its spirit of adventure and collaboration. Artists the group is currently working with include: Azerbaijan’s best known singer Alim Qasimov; Afghan rubab virtuoso Homayoun Sakhi; Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq; and educator / ethnomusicologist Dr. Craig Woodson.

< Black Angels

Of all the music that captured the imagination of a young David Harrington before he formed the Kronos Quartet, nothing was more powerful than George Crumb’s Black Angels. This epic work was Crumb’s response to the agony of the Vietnam War. This reconstruction of this contemporary masterpiece offers audiences an insight into the early influences on the greatest music ensemble of a generation.

“…retains its landmark status in the annals of this century’s music. Like another pivotal masterpiece, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, of sixty years earlier, in which everything in common knowledge about rhythm, harmony, and orchestration was turned upside down, Crumb’s extraordinary work redefines a string quartet’s range of possibilities."

—Robert Schwartz, on the 25th Anniversary of Kronos Quartet

< A Chinese Home & Ghost Opera

Kronos presents an evening-length, staged performance featuring two major pieces with pipa virtuoso Wu Man. A Chinese Home is a reflection on Chinese cultural tradition and transition, inspired by the extraordinary story of Yin Yu Tang, a 300-year-old house from a southeastern Chinese village that was dismantled piece-by-piece at the turn of the millennium and rebuilt in the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts. Beyond the musical resources, A Chinese Home draws upon various visual media in its staging and is directed by Chen Shi-Zheng (Peony Pavilion). Ghost Opera by Tan Dun is the first half of this concert. Written for the Kronos Quartet and Wu Man in 1994, it remains one of the most requested large-scale works of Kronos. It was the first piece in which Kronos collaborated with Wu Man.

< Sun Rings

Music by Terry Riley, sounds from space, visual design by Willie Williams, commissioned by the NASA Art Program. A multi-media, evening-length work.

“Terry Riley’s empyrean masterpiece for the Kronos Quartet, chorus, electronic sounds from outer space, and lavish visual projections provides music of supreme beauty and spiritual impact….A whole new chapter in the age-old quest for a music of the spheres. Space sounds swirl in the air; galaxies carpet the walls and ceiling; and Riley’s generous melodies flow through Kronos’ four string instruments. The audience sat in spellbound silence the way spectators do at a space launch."

—Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times