Integral to Kronos’ work is a series of long-running commissioning collaborations with hundreds of composers worldwide, including Terry Riley, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Tanya Tagaq, Philip Glass, inti figgis-vizueta, Fodé Lassana Diabaté, and Steve Reich. In its most ambitious commissioning effort to date, KPAA has recently completed 50 for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Through this initiative, Kronos has commissioned—and distributed online for free—50 new string quartet works written by composers from around the world. In recordings, Kronos has collaborated with artists including Wu Man, Zakir Hussain, Asha Bhosle, Mahsa Vahdat, and Nine Inch Nails. Kronos has performed live with the likes of Paul McCartney, Allen Ginsberg, Rokia Traoré, David Bowie, Rhiannon Giddens, Caetano Veloso, and The National, among many others. The quartet tours for several months each year, appearing in celebrated venues, including Carnegie Hall (New York), Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), the Barbican (London), the Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam), Shanghai Concert Hall, Suntory Hall (Tokyo), and the Sydney Opera House.Kronos’ expansive discography on Nonesuch includes three Grammy-winning albums—Terry Riley’s Sun Rings (2019), Landfallwith Laurie Anderson (2018), and Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite(2003)—along with dozens of other acclaimed releases. Kronos’ most recent recording is Mỹ Lai (2022), an opera by Jonathan Berger and Harriet Scott Chessman. Kronos’ work has also featured prominently in many films, including the “live documentary” A Thousand Thoughts, written and directed by Sam Green and Joe Bini, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. Based in San Francisco, the nonprofit KPAA staff manages all aspects of Kronos’ work, including commissioning, concert tours and local performances, recordings, education programs, and an annual Kronos Festival in San Francisco.
The 2023/24 season will mark the 50th anniversary of the Kronos Quartet. That’s a milestone that few performing ensembles achieve, and it’s clearly grounds for celebration. For the past 50 years, Kronos has been focused on the new, and the next—the next commissioned work, the next tour, the next album, the next education opportunity. Kronos’ five decades are not just a history to look back on—they are a platform, built to propel Kronos forward. The KRONOS Five Decades Project is a platform that rests squarely upon four pillars: Creation, Performance, Education, and Preservation. Throughout the 2023/24 season, the KRONOS Five Decades Project will unveil major new initiatives in each of these areas, including commissions, performances, educational residencies, digital projects, and recordings. There is also a “fifth pillar” that infuses and empowers all the rest: Community. Kronos’ achievement of its 50-year milestone is due in large part to both the support of and collaboration with one of the most wide-ranging and innovative international communities in all of the arts: composers, artists, educators, students, concertgoers, and, crucially arts presenters. We look forward to creating a KRONOS Five Decades Project engagement that celebrates creation, the future, and your community.
The Five Decades Project rests squarly on these four pillars …
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