Kronos Quartet

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American string quartet

title: "Kronos Quartet" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["musical-groups-from-san-francisco", "contemporary-classical-music-ensembles", "grammy-award-winners", "nonesuch-records-artists", "musical-groups-established-in-1973", "rolf-schock-prize-laureates", "american-string-quartets", "landmark-records-artists", "world-circuit-(record-label)-artists", "musical-groups-from-seattle", "1973-establishments-in-washington-(state)"] description: "American string quartet" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronos_Quartet" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American string quartet ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]

FieldValue
nameKronos Quartet
backgroundclassical_ensemble
imageKronos_Quartet_with_Paul_Wiancko.jpg
landscapeyes
captionKronos Quartet at the Musical Instrument Museum, 2020
originSeattle, Washington, U.S.
genre
occupationChamber ensemble
years_active1973–present
label{{flatlist
website
current_members* David Harrington (violin)
past_members* Jim Shallenberger (violin, 1973–1975)
::

| name = Kronos Quartet | background = classical_ensemble | image = Kronos_Quartet_with_Paul_Wiancko.jpg | image_size = | landscape = yes | caption = Kronos Quartet at the Musical Instrument Museum, 2020 | origin = Seattle, Washington, U.S. | genre = | occupation = Chamber ensemble | years_active = 1973–present | label = {{flatlist|

  • Nonesuch/Elektra
  • Cantaloupe
  • Dacapo
  • Landmark
  • World Circuit
  • Smithsonian Folkways
  • Anti
  • Ondine
  • Centrediscs | website = | current_members = * David Harrington (violin)
  • Gabriela Díaz (violin)
  • Ayane Kozasa (viola)
  • Paul Wiancko (cello) | past_members = * Jim Shallenberger (violin, 1973–1975)
  • Tim Kilian (viola, 1973–1976)
  • Walter Gray (cello, 1973–1978)
  • Roy Lewis (violin, 1975–1976)
  • Richard Balkin (violin 1976-1977)
  • Michael Jones (viola, 1976–1978)
  • Ella Gray (violin, 1977–1978)
  • Joan Jeanrenaud (cello, 1978–1999)
  • Jennifer Culp (cello, 1999–2005)
  • Jeffrey Zeigler (cello, 2005–2013)
  • Sunny Yang (cello, 2013–2022)
  • John Sherba (violin, 1978–2024)
  • Hank Dutt (viola, 1978–2024) The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical music. More than 1,200 works have been written for it. The quartet has recorded over 75 albums and received a number of awards.

History

The quartet was founded by violinist David Harrington in Seattle, Washington. Its first performance was in November 1973. In March 2024, Kronos Quartet announced that Sherba and Dutt would retire in June of that year. They were replaced by violinist Gabriela Díaz and violist Ayane Kosaza.

With over 75 studio albums to its credit and having performed worldwide, the Kronos Quartet has been called "probably the most famous 'new music' group in the world" and been praised in philosophical studies of music for the inclusiveness of its repertoire.

By the time the quartet celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1999, it had a repertoire of over 600 works, including 400 quartets written for it, more than 3,000 performances, seven first-prize ASCAP awards, Edison Awards in classical and popular music, and had more than 1.5 million record sales.

30th anniversary

When Kronos turned 30, in 2003, it decided to commission new pieces from composers under age 30, in hopes of encouraging talented young composers. The program, called the Under 30 Project, is now run in cooperation with Carnegie Hall, Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Montalvo Arts Center. The first recipient was Alexandra du Bois (at the time a student at Indiana University, later a Juilliard School graduate), followed by Felipe Perez Santiago (born in Mexico in 1973), and Dan Visconti (born in Illinois in 1982); in 2007, Israeli composer Aviya Kopelman became the fourth.

40th anniversary

To celebrate its 40th year, the Kronos Quartet returned to Seattle, the city in which it first played, and worked in collaboration with Seattle's Degenerate Art Ensemble to create a piece incorporating music, dance and video. (also spelled "Qo'noS").

Members

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bar:Walter text:Walter_Gray bar:Joan text:Joan_Jeanrenaud bar:Jennifer text:Jennifer_Culp bar:Jeffrey text:Jeffrey_Zeigler bar:Sunny text:Sunny_Yang bar:Paul text:Paul_Wiancko

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color:viola bar:Tim from:start till:12/31/1975 width:7 bar:Michael from:01/01/1976 till:12/31/1977 width:7 bar:Hank from:01/01/1978 till:06/23/2024 width:7 bar:Ayane from:06/24/2024 till:end width:7

color:cello bar:Walter from:start till:12/31/1977 width:7 bar:Joan from:01/01/1978 till:12/31/1998 width:7 bar:Jennifer from:01/01/1999 till:12/31/2004 width:7 bar:Jeffrey from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2012 width:7 bar:Sunny from:01/01/2013 till:12/31/2021 width:7 bar:Paul from:01/01/2022 till:end width:7

New music, contemporary classical

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Laurie_Anderson_amidst_the_Kronos_Quartet_in_Chicago_after_performing_LANDFALL_2015-03-17_20.53.41_(16851029595).jpg" caption="Harris Theater]] on March 17, 2015"] ::

Over 1,000 pieces have been created for the Kronos Quartet, which has a long history of commissioning new works. It has worked with many minimalist composers, including John Adams, Arvo Pärt, George Crumb, Henryk Górecki, Steve Reich, John Luther Adams, Roberto Paci Dalò, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Peter Sculthorpe and Kevin Volans; collaborators hail from a diversity of countries—Kaija Saariaho from Finland, Pēteris Vasks from Latvia, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh from Azerbaijan, Homayun Sakhi from Afghanistan, Hamza El Din from Egypt, Victoria Vita Polevá from Ukraine and Fernando Otero, Astor Piazzolla, and Osvaldo Golijov from Argentina. Some of Kronos's string-quartet arrangements were published in 2007.{{cite journal | last = Silberman | first = Daryl | title = First Edition: Kronos finally publishes its highly coveted string-quartet arrangements | journal = Strings | volume = 22 | issue = 3 | page = 90 | publisher = String Letter Publishing | date = Oct 2007

Diverse genres

::quote

::

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 also recorded adaptations of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze", Sigur Rós's "Flugufrelsarinn", Television's "Marquee Moon", Raymond Scott's "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals", and Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".

Kronos has also worked with a variety of global musicians, including Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle; Mexican-American painter Gronk; American soprano Dawn Upshaw; jazz composer/performer Pat Metheny; Mexican rockers Café Tacuba; Azerbaijani mugam singer Alim Qasimov; and the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks among others.

Kronos has performed live with the poet Allen Ginsberg, Astor Piazzolla, The National, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Tom Waits, David Bowie, Paul McCartney and Björk, and has recorded with Nelly Furtado, Rokia Traoré, Joan Armatrading, Brazilian electronica artist Amon Tobin, Texas yodeler Don Walser, Faith No More, Tiger Lillies and David Grisman.

In 1984, Frank Zappa wrote "None of the Above" for Kronos, of which it performs the first movement in the 2020 documentary Zappa, directed by Alex Winter. Kronos's artistic director, founder, and violinist David Harrington is also interviewed in the film.

On the 1998 Dave Matthews Band album Before These Crowded Streets, Kronos Quartet performed on the tracks "Halloween" and "The Stone". It also recorded for the 2007 Nine Inch Nails remix album, Year Zero Remixed doing a rendition of the track "Another Version of the Truth"". The group performed Lee Brooks's score for the short film 2081, based on the Kurt Vonnegut short story "Harrison Bergeron".

In 2009, Kronos contributed an acoustic version of Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was the Night" for the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization.

In 2017, the quartet performed as featured artists on the songs "Lost Light" and "Journey" on the soundtrack to the videogame Destiny 2.

Awards and recognition

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Kronos_Quartet.jpg" caption="Greeting the audience after a 2005 performance" alt=""] ::

Le Diapason d'Or de Mai

  • 1997 Osvaldo Golijov's The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind ;Rolf Schock Prize

  • 1999 Royal Swedish Academy of Music for Musical Arts in Music Musical America

  • 2003 Musicians of the Year{{cite web | last = Mattison | first = Ben | title = Kronos Quartet Named Musical America's Musicians of the Year for 2003 | publisher = Andante | date = December 13, 2002 | url = http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=19434&highlight=1&highlightterms=&lstKeywords= | access-date = January 12, 2009}} Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance

  • 2004 Alban Berg: Lyric Suite Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance

  • 2018 Laurie Anderson: Landfall Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Classical

  • 2020 Terry Riley: Sun Rings National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

  • 2005 The Recording Academy President's Merit Award Polar Music Prize

    1. The announcement of the award said: "For almost 40 years, the Kronos Quartet has been revolutionizing the potential of the string quartet genre when it comes to both style and content."{{cite web | title = Kronos Quartet / Polar Music Prize | date = May 3, 2011 | url = http://www.polarmusicprize.org/laureates/kronos-quartet/ | website=Polarmusicprize.org | access-date = February 10, 2019}} WOMEX Awards

  • 2018 WOMEX Artist Award – Since the introduction of the WOMEX Award in 1999, the list of extraordinary artists and professionals deserving of this special praise has continued to grow. The award honours exceptional achievements in world music on the international level; musical excellence, social importance, commercial success, political impact, lifetime achievement Edison Classical Music Awards (Edison Klassiek)

  • 2019 Oeuvreprijs

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Kronos_Quartet_(on_In_Tune,_BBC_Radio,_2012).jpg" caption="Kronos Quartet recording at BBC Radio, 2012"] ::

Recordings

Main article: Kronos Quartet discography

Published music

  • {{cite book | title = Kronos Collection, Vol. 1 | publisher = Boosey and Hawkes | year = 2007
  • Kronos Collection, Vol. 2. Boosey and Hawkes. 2013.

Films

References

References

  1. Kosman, Joshua. (March 5, 2024). "Exclusive: Two longtime members of Kronos Quartet plan a joint retirement".
  2. (September 29, 2022). ""Kronos Quartet names Paul Wiancko as new cellist"".
  3. "Exclusive: Two longtime members of Kronos Quartet plan a joint retirement". San Francisco Chronicle.
  4. "Kronos Quartet's fifth member operates with care and savvy behind the scenes".
  5. (April 5, 2016). "Kronos' David Harrington: 'There Is No Such Thing As Easy Music'". Thought Catalog.
  6. Vivian Schweitzer. (February 25, 2008). "Music Review: Kronos Quartet – Premieres Range in Palette From Balkans to Argentina". [[The New York Times]].
  7. Adam Greenberg. (February 2001). "Five Tango Sensations-Kronos Quartet Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". [[AllMusic]].
  8. Yaple, Carol. "Four Hundred Candles: The Creation of a Repertoire". Kronos Quartet.
  9. Kettle, David. (December 2005). "Kronos Quartet/Asha Boshle (singer)". [[The Strad (magazine).
  10. "Contact Kronos and Frequently Asked Questions".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

musical-groups-from-san-franciscocontemporary-classical-music-ensemblesgrammy-award-winnersnonesuch-records-artistsmusical-groups-established-in-1973rolf-schock-prize-laureatesamerican-string-quartetslandmark-records-artistsworld-circuit-(record-label)-artistsmusical-groups-from-seattle1973-establishments-in-washington-(state)