Kronos Quartet
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| Kronos Quartet | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin |  San Francisco, California, United States |
| Genre(s) | Contemporary classical |
| Occupation(s) | Chamber ensemble |
| Years active | 1973-present |
| Label(s) | Nonesuch |
| Website | www.KronosQuartet.org |
| Members | |
| David Harrington, violin John Sherba, violin Hank Dutt, viola Jeffrey Zeigler, cello |
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| Former members | |
| Joan Jeanrenaud, cello Jennifer Culp, cello Walter Gray[citation needed], cello |
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Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers (from 1978 to 1999) had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola and Joan Jeanrenaud on cello. Jennifer Culp replaced Jeanrenaud in 1999, and Jeffrey Zeigler in turn replaced Culp in 2005.
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[edit] New music
Kronos specializes in new music and has a long history of commissioning new works. In fact, over 600 works have been created for the Kronos Quartet. They have worked with many minimalist composers including Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Roberto Carnevale, Terry Riley and Kevin Volans.
Kronos has collaborated with composers from a diversity of countries such as Kaija Saariaho from Finland, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh from Azerbaijan, Roberto Paci Dalò from Italy, and Osvaldo Golijov from Argentina. Golijov is a MacArthur Fellow who has done compositions and arrangements for Kronos CDs such as Caravan and Nuevo.
Recently, the Kronos Quartet began a commission process for composers under the age of 30, in the hope of bringing some of the talented young composers to light.
[edit] Diverse genres
Kronos covers a very broad range of musical genres: Mexican folk, experimental, pre-classical early music, movie soundtracks (Requiem for a Dream, Heat, The Fountain), jazz and tango. Kronos has even recorded adaptations of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze", Sigur Rós's "Flugufrelsarinn," Television's "Marquee Moon", and Raymond Scott's "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals".
Composers aside, Kronos has teamed up with artists from around the world, including Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle; Mexican-American painter Gronk; the American soprano Dawn Upshaw; jazz composer/performer Pat Metheny; Mexican rockers Café Tacuba; and the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks.
Kronos has performed live with the likes of the late poet Allen Ginsberg, Astor Piazzolla, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Tom Waits, David Bowie, and Björk, and has appeared on recordings with such diverse talents as singer-songwriters Dave Matthews, Nelly Furtado, Rokia Traore, Joan Armatrading, Brazilian electronica artist Amon Tobin, Texas yodeler Don Walser, Faith No More, Tiger Lillies and David Grisman.
Most recently, Kronos appears on Nine Inch Nails' latest remix album, Year Zero Remixed, released November 20, 2007.
[edit] Awards and recognition
- Le Diapason d'Or de Mai
- 1997 Osvaldo Golijov's The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind
- 1999 Royal Swedish Academy of Music for Musical Arts in Music
- Musical America
- 2003 Musicians of the Year[1]
- 2004 Alban Berg: Lyric Suite
- 2005 The Recording Academy President's Merit Award
[edit] Quotation
- "I've always wanted the string quartet to be vital, and energetic, and alive, and cool, and not afraid to kick ass and be absolutely beautiful and ugly if it has to be. But it has to be expressive of life. To tell the whole story with grace and humor and depth. And to tell the whole story, if possible."
- – David Harrington
[edit] Recordings
- In Formation (1982)
- Kronos Quartet Plays Music of Thelonious Monk (1985)
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters: Soundtrack composed by Philip Glass (1985)
- Kronos Quartet (1986), with music of Peter Sculthorpe, Aulis Sallinen, Philip Glass, Conlon Nancarrow and an arrangement of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze".
- Music of Bill Evans (1986)
- White Man Sleeps (1987)
- Terry Riley: Cadenza on the Night Plain (1988)
- Winter Was Hard with music of Aulis Sallinen, Terry Riley, Arvo Pärt, Anton Webern, John Zorn, John Lurie, Astor Piazzolla, Alfred Schnittke and Samuel Barber (1988)
- Kronos Quartet Plays Terry Riley: Salome Dances for Peace (1989)
- Steve Reich: Different Trains (1989)
- Black Angels (including George Crumb's Black Angels) (1990)
- Witold Lutosławski: String Quartet (1991)
- Kevin Volans: Hunting:Gathering (1991)
- Five Tango Sensations (with Ástor Piazzolla) (1991)
- Henryk Górecki: Already It Is Dusk (1991)
- Pieces of Africa (1992) (music by seven African composers)
- Short Stories (1993)
- Henryk Górecki: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2 (1993)
- Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet (1993) (with pianist Aki Takahashi)
- At the Grave of Richard Wagner (1993)
- Bob Ostertag: All the Rage (1993)
- Night Prayers (1994)
- Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass (1995)
- Released: 1985-1995 (1995)
- Heat (Soundtrack) (1995)
- Howl, USA (Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl set to music, as well as other Cold War pieces) (1996)
- Osvaldo Golijov: The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind (1997)
- Tan Dun: Ghost Opera (1997)
- Early Music (1997)
- Kronos Quartet Performs Alfred Schnittke: The Complete String Quartets (1998)
- John Adams: John's Book of Alleged Dances (1998)
- Kronos Quartet: 25 Years (10 discs)
- Kronos Quartet performs the song "M.C." on the "Reves" disc of the Cafe Tacvba double album Reves/Yosoy. The song is a cover of the song "La Muerte Chiquita" from the "Yosoy" disc. (1999)
- Dracula (Soundtrack by Philip Glass) (1999)
- Requiem for a Dream (Soundtrack by Clint Mansell) (2000)
- Caravan (2000) (with guest artists: Zakir Hussain, Taraf de Haidouks, Kayhan Kalhor, Ziya Tabbassian, Ali Jihad Racy, Souhail Kaspar, Martyn Jones)
- Steve Reich: Triple Quartet (2001)
- Terry Riley: Requiem for Adam (2001)
- Nuevo (music of Mexican composers) (2002)
- Alban Berg: Lyric Suite (2003)
- Harry Partch: U.S. Highball (2003)
- Peteris Vasks: String Quartet No. 4 (2003)
- Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (2005)
- You've Stolen My Heart by Kronos Quartet, Asha Bhosle (Released August 2005), a tribute to Rahul Dev Burman.
- The Fountain (Soundtrack by Clint Mansell) (2006)
- Henryk Górecki: String Quartet No. 3 '...songs are sung' (2006)
- Kronos Quartet Plays Sigur Rós (2007)
- Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero Remixed, "Another Version of the Truth" (2007)
- Terry Riley: The Cusp of Magic (2008)
[edit] Music DVD
- In Accord (1998)
- Kronos On Stage (2002)
[edit] Films
- 1995 - Musical Outsiders: An American Legacy - Harry Partch, Lou Harrison, and Terry Riley. Directed by Michael Blackwood.
[edit] References
- ^ "Musical America Announces 2003 Honorees of the Year", Musical America, December 2002. Retrieved on 2007-03-28.
[edit] External links
- Kronos Quartet Official website
- Kronos Quartet at Allmusic
- Interview with founding Kronos member David Harrington
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