String Section

15 February 2005

For more than 30 years, the American troupe Kronos Quartet has been committed to expanding the range and context of the string quartet. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide and releasing more than 40 recordings.

Quartet members David Harrington and John Sherba (violin), Hank Dutt (viola) and Jennifer Culp (cello) have received numerous awards, including a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and "Musicians of the Year" (2003) from Musical America.

Integral to Kronos' output is a series of long-running, in-depth collaborations with many of the world's foremost composers. One of the quartet's most frequent composer-collaborators is Terry Riley, whose work with Kronos includes the early Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector and Salome Dances for Peace. More recently Kronos and Riley combined to create Sun Rings, a multimedia, NASA-commissioned ode to the earth and its people, featuring celestial sounds and images gathered by the space agency. Kronos has also collaborated on many occassions with Philip Glass.

On this, their latest tour, Kronos presents two programs, the first is Visual Music, a continuously unfolding audio-visual experience, with music, video projections and lighting integrated in beautiful and unexpected ways. Featuring the music of Terry Riley and the Icelandic group Sigur Rós, the audience will also be invited to stay on for a discussion of the performance with Kronos after the show. The program also includes other music by Steve Reich, John Zorn, Scott Johnson, Mark Grey, Krzysztof Penderecki and the acclaimed film composer Bernard Herrmann.

Program Two, Kronos In Recital captures the world of Kronos in all its extraordinary diversity, with a signature work by Peter Sculthorpe, Musica Viva's Featured Composer for 2005. Sculthorpe has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the group.

Sculthorpe's String Quartet no. 11 Jabiru Dreaming incorporates sounds from nature and transforms Aboriginal and Balinese influences. Kronos In Recital also includes works written and arranged for Kronos by composers such as Felipe Pérez Santiago, Alexandra du Bois and Charles Mingus.

- Alex McDonald

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