Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association Fact Sheet: KRONOS Five Decades Origins ● Kronos Quartet, founded in Seattle, WA in
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1973 by violinist and artistic director David Harrington, and based in San Francisco, CA since 1977 The not-for-profit Kronos Performing Arts Association was established to serve as Kronos Quartet's umbrella organization in 1975. Hank Dutt (viola) joined in 1977, John Sherba (violin) joined in 1978, Paul Wiancko (cello) joined in 2023
Collaborations ● Representing many genres and cultures, Kronos’ renowned concert collaborators have included Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Rhiannon Giddens, Allen Ginsberg, Zakir Hussain, Paul McCartney, Modern Jazz Quartet, Patti Smith, Amon Tobin, Rokia Traoré, Dawn Upshaw, Mahsa Vahdat, Vân Ánh Võ, Tony Williams, and Howard Zinn.
Recordings ● 70+ recordings ●
Commissions ● 1,100+ new works and arrangements have been commissioned for Kronos by KPAA since its founding. ● New works have been written by composers from all over the world, including Michael Abels, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, John Cage, Hamza el Din, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Gordon, Henryk Górecki, Sofia Gubaidulina, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Jlin, Nicole Lizée, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Gabriela Ortiz, Astor Piazzolla, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Kaija Saariaho, Tanya Tagaq, Tan Dun, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Wu Man.
Performances ● Up to five months of national and international touring annually, totaling thousands of concerts over 50 years ● Concerts in premier venues and festivals worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Celebrate Brooklyn, and BAM Next Wave Festival (New York); Royce Hall at UCLA; Big Ears (Knoxville); Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City); Pierre Boulez Saal (Berlin); Barbican (London); Philharmonie de Paris; Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam); Haydn Hall at Schloss Esterhazy (Austria); The Arts Center at New York University Abu Dhabi; Shanghai Concert Hall; Suntory Hall (Tokyo); and Sydney Opera House
More than 4 million recordings sold on Nonesuch and other record labels - more than any string quartet in history ● Three Grammy Award winners: Terry Riley’s Sun Rings (2019), Landfall with Laurie Anderson (2018), and Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite featuring soprano Dawn Upshaw (2003) ● Recording collaborators have included Joan Armatrading, Asha Bhosle, Alison Brown, David Byrne, Ron Carter, Café Tacvba, Bryce Dessner, Homayun Sakhi Trio, Angélique Kidjo, Nine Inch Nails, Kimmo Pojhonen, Alim & Fargana Qasimov, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Aki Takahashi, The Tiger Lillies, Rokia Traoré, Trio da Kali, Dawn Upshaw, and Don Walser.
Awards 40+ awards and honors received, which include: ● 3 Grammy Awards ● 12 Grammy Nominations ● Polar Music Prize ● Avery Fisher Prize ● Edison Klassiek Oeuvre Prize ● Musical America-Musicians of the Year ● Rolf Schock Prize in Music/Royal Swedish Academy of Music
Updated January 4, 2024 | page 1 of 2