Kronos’ Fifty for the Future is commissioning a collection of 50 new works – 10 per year for five years – that are devoted to the most contemporary approaches to the string quartet and designed expressly for the training of students and emerging professionals. The works are being commissioned from an eclectic group of composers – 25 men and 25 women – and the collection is beginning to represent the truly globe-spanning state of the art of the string quartet in the 21st century.

On November 7, we released the scores and parts, audio recordings, and many more resources for Fifty for the Future works by Laurie Anderson, Trey Spruance (Secret Chiefs 3, Mr. Bungle), Stephan Thelen (SONAR), Korean haegeum master Soo Yeon Lyuh and Swedish composer Karin Rehnqvist, which join previously released pieces by Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Ken Benshoof, Raven Chacon, Fodé Lassana Diabaté, Rhiannon Giddens, Yotam Haber, Joan Jeanrenaud, Garth Knox, Aleksander Kościów, Nicole Lizée, Kala Ramnath, Tanya Tagaq, Merlijn Twaalfhoven, Aleksandra Vrebalov and Wu Man. Anyone can now learn to play these string quartets... including you!

Visit Kronos Quartet's website: kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future/

Fall 2017 Release: Kronos' Fifty for the Future #16–20 of 50

You can learn to play this piece. FREE scores and parts, among other materials, are available online: kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future

Composed by Karin Rehnqvist
© 2017 Inner Sunset Publishing
℗ 2017 Kronos Performing Arts Association
Commissioned for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire

Produced by Kronos Quartet
Recorded July 2017 at 25th Street Recording, Oakland, CA
Engineered and mixed by Alex Spencer
Assistant engineer: Peter Labberton
Production Assistant: Reshena Liao
Edited at Lazy Dog Sound Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Mixed by Alex Spencer and David Harrington at Decibelle Recording, San Francisco, CA

The Riddle

Karin Rehnqvist - The Riddle

You can learn to play this piece. FREE scores and parts, among other materials, are available online: kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future

Composed by Laurie Anderson
© 2017 Inner Sunset Publishing
℗ 2017 Kronos Performing Arts Association
Commissioned for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire

Produced by Kronos Quartet
Recorded July 2017 at 25th Street Recording, Oakland, CA
Engineered and mixed by Alex Spencer
Assistant engineer: Peter Labberton
Production Assistant: Reshena Liao
Edited at Lazy Dog Sound Studios, Long Beach, CA
Mixed by Alex Spencer and David Harrington at Decibelle Recording, San Francisco, CA

III. Airy

Laurie Anderson - Shutter Island: III. Airy

II. Crystal

Laurie Anderson - Shutter Island: II. Crystal

I. Shutter Island

Laurie Anderson - Shutter Island: I. Shutter Island

You can learn to play this piece. FREE scores and parts, among other materials, are available online: kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future

Composed by Trey Spruance
© 2016 Kronos Arts Publishing
℗ 2017 Kronos Performing Arts Association
Commissioned for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire

Produced by Kronos Quartet
Recorded July 2017 at 25th Street Recording, Oakland, CA
Engineered and mixed by Alex Spencer
Assistant engineer: Peter Labberton
Production Assistant: Reshena Liao
Edited at Lazy Dog Sound Studios, Long Beach, CA
Mixed by Alex Spencer and David Harrington at Decibelle Recording, San Francisco, CA

Trey Spruance - Séraphîta: II. Le Baphomet

You can learn to play this piece. FREE scores and parts, among other materials, are available online: kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future

Composed by Soo Yeon Lyuh
© 2016 Inner Sunset Publishing
℗ 2017 Kronos Performing Arts Association
Commissioned for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire

Produced by Kronos Quartet
Recorded July 2017 at 25th Street Recording, Oakland, CA
Engineered and mixed by Alex Spencer
Assistant engineer: Peter Labberton
Production Assistant: Reshena Liao
Edited at Lazy Dog Sound Studios, Long Beach, CA
Mixed by Alex Spencer and David Harrington at Decibelle Recording, San Francisco, CA

Yessori (Sound from the Past)

Soo Yeon Lyuh - Yessori

BBC Radio 4 interview with David Harrington, founder of the Kronos Quartet and librettist Harriet Chessman regarding 'My Lai', the monodrama for tenor, string quartet and Vietnamese instruments, Composed by Jonathan Berger, with libretto by Harriet Chessman. Performed by Rinde Eckhert, Vân-Ánh Võ and the Kronos Quartet.

My Lai - BBC Interview with David Harrington(The Kronos Quartet)and Harriet Chessman

Over the course of a decade, Michael Gordon has collaborated with the world-renowned Kronos Quartet on a series of provocative works that have sought to stretch, bend and otherwise reshape the boundaries of modern classical music. Clouded Yellow assembles these works for the first time, perfectly encapsulating the breadth and complexity of this long-standing creative partnership. 

Clouded Yellow features four pieces: the title track (composed in 2010), Exalted (2010), The Sad Park (2006) and Potassium (2000). The title of the first refers to the clouded yellow butterfly, which is known in England for its mass migrations; the word “clouded” is also meant to describe the blurred harmonies and melodies of the piece. 

Potassium is for amplified string quartet and electronics, with a fuzz box used throughout to lend a mysterious distortion to the sound. The Sad Park is accompanied by recordings of children ages 3 to 4 and their responses to the tragic events of 9/11. Exalted, which also features the Young People’s Chorus of New York City conducted by Francisco Núñez, sets the opening of the Jewish Kaddish in Aramaic, connecting the choral voices of mourning to those of the children in The Sad Park.

Clouded Yellow

Michael Gordon & Kronos Quartet – Clouded Yellow

To celebrate some of the most bizarre animals on the planet (as well as some of the most bizarre musical instruments), Michael Hearst has devised Song For Unusual Creatures. The album consists of instrumental songs inspired by such beastly oddities as the aye-aye, the magnapinna squid, the bobfish, the elephant shrew, the blue-footed booby, and many more. Instruments include daxophone, theremin, claviola, stylophone, tuba, and more. Guest musicians include Kronos Quartet, Margaret Leng Tan, Wade Schuman, and Cecilia Brauer, among others.

www.unusualcreatures.com



WEDDELL SEAL  Featuring the Kronos Quartet.

Inspired by the Kronos Quartet’s performance Music For Change: The Banned Countries, Stanford Live is partnering with the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies to bring together artists and Stanford foreign relations experts to discuss the impacts of the 2017 Executive Orders that limit travel from Muslim-majority countries to the US. How are these orders affecting the institutions that provide much needed cross-cultural exchange and understanding—from higher education to formal diplomacy—and how do we move forward?

Professor Abbas Milani (Director, Iranian Studies) will lead the panel conversation, including Ambassador Michael McFaul (Director, Freeman Spogli Institute), Professor Martha Crenshaw (Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute), and David Harrington (Artistic Director, Kronos Quartet).

Halting Exchange: The Travel Ban's Cultural Effects

From "Echoes," an album by Kronos Quartet, The Living Earth Show, Youth Speaks, Danny Clay, Ashley Smiley, Tassiana Willis, Sean San Jose, Gabriel Cortez, Michael Wayne Turner III, and Aimee Suzara. Echoes is a spoken word chamber opera commissioned by SF Performances. Tickets to the live performance on March 7 are available at http://bit.ly/Echoes_TLEStival

"Could never tell you east from west..." (with Ashley Smiley, Kronos Quartet, and Danny Clay)

Kronos Quartet 'Long Time Passing: Kronos Quartet and Friends Celebrate Pete Seeger' available October 9, 2020 on CD, 2xLP, and digital. Pre-order starting 7/29/2020.

On 'Long Time Passing,' the trailblazing Kronos Quartet celebrates the music of Pete Seeger and rejoices in the spirit, inspiration, and fearlessness inherent in his life’s work. Along with guests Sam Amidon, Maria Arnal, Brian Carpenter, Meklit, Lee Knight, and Aoife O’Donovan, the group examines Seeger’s celebration of beauty and the pleasure of singing together. Through the power of these eternally relevant cries for unity and moral integrity, the album articulates the responsibility we have as citizens and members of a greater community to question war and injustice, and to develop the courage to raise our voices together both in word and song.

Kronos Quartet - Where Have All The Flowers Gone? - S. Amidon, B. Carpenter, L. Knight, A. O'Donovan

Kronos Quartet is David Harrington (violin), John Sherba (violin), Hank Dutt (viola), and Sunny Yang (cello).

http://kronosquartet.org/

Here you will find our recordings of new work commissioned for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Released over five years beginning in 2016, this collection of 50 compositions by 25 men and 25 women from around the world will be devoted to the contemporary approaches to the string quartet and designed expressly for the training of students and emerging professionals. Scores and parts, audio recordings, composer interviews, and many more resources are available for free on our website.

Founded over forty years ago, we are a San Francisco-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. For more recordings, please visit http://www.nonesuch.com/artists/kronos-quartet or http://kronosquartet.org/recordings Thank you!

Trey Spruance - Séraphîta: II. Le Baphomet

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