Kronos Quartet Biographies (Short & Long)
1500-word biography Kronos Quartet David Harrington, violin Gabriela Díaz, violin Ayane Kozasa, viola Paul Wiancko, cello For over 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet has reimagined what the string quartet experience can be. Founded at a time when the form was largely centered on long-established, Western European traditions, Kronos has been at the forefront of revolutionizing the string quartet into a living art form that responds to the people and issues of our time. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential groups of our era, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 70 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, and collaborating with many of the world’s most accomplished composers and performers. Through its nonprofit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA), Kronos has commissioned more than 1,100 works and arrangements for string quartet—including the recently completed Kronos Fifty for the Future library of free, educational repertoire. Kronos has received more than 40 awards, including three Grammy Awards and the Polar Music, Avery Fisher, and Edison Klassiek Oeuvre Prizes—among the most prestigious awards given to musicians. In 2024, the Library of Congress announced its acquisition of the Archive of Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association, a collection that includes 50 years’ worth of manuscripts, instruments, costumes, video and audio recordings, photographs, and more. Together, these materials constitute an invaluable record of Kronos/KPAA’s genesis, growth, and legacy, and will now be permanently housed in the Library’s Music Division alongside the storied histories of influential artists and composers from around the world. Kronos’ adventurous approach dates back to the ensemble’s origins. In 1973, David Harrington formed the group after hearing George Crumb’s Black Angels, an innovative, Vietnam War–inspired work featuring bowed water glasses, spoken-word passages, and electronic effects. In addition to this formative work, Kronos began building its own eclectic repertoire for string quartet, performing and recording compositions by 20th-century masters (Sofia Gubaidulina, Astor Piazzolla, Alfred Schnittke), contemporary composers from around the world (Sahba Aminikia, Nicole Lizée, Vladimir Martynov, Aleksandra Vrebalov), jazz legends (Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Maria Schneider), rock artists (Jimi Hendrix, Sigur Rós, Pete Townshend), and artists who defy genre (Laurie Anderson, Trevor Paglen, Tanya Tagaq). Integral to Kronos’ work is a series of long-running, in-depth collaborations with many of the world’s foremost composers, resulting in a vast body of Kronos-commissioned works for string quartet. One of the quartet’s most long-standing and frequent collaborators is Terry Riley, whose work with Kronos includes Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector (1980), Salome Dances for Peace (1985–86), and Sun Rings (2002). Aleksandra Vrebalov has written more than 20 pieces for Kronos, including Pannonia Boundless (1998); ...hold me, neighbor, in this storm… (2007); and Beyond Zero (2014), a multimedia meditation on World War I in collaboration with filmmaker Bill Morrison. The quartet has also collaborated extensively with Philip Glass, recording an album of his string quartets in 1995 and premiering String Quartets No. 6 (2013) and No. 7 (2014); with Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, whose works are featured on the full-length 2005 release Mugam Sayagi; and with Steve Reich, whose string quartets Different Trains (1989), Triple Quartet (2001), and WTC 9/11 (2011) were written for and recorded by Kronos. In its most ambitious commissioning effort to date, KPAA has recently completed a monumental education project that will be a cornerstone of Kronos’ ongoing legacy: Kronos Fifty for the Future. Through this initiative, Kronos has commissioned—and distributed online for free—50 new works for string quartet designed expressly for the training of students and professionals, written by composers from around the world. Scores and parts, recordings, and other materials are available on Kronos Quartet Biography - Short Bios
updated 3/6/24 | page 1 of 9