Composer Steve Reich comments on his forthcoming Nonesuch Records release, featuring his piece WTC 9/11, performed by Kronos Quartet, and the album cover.

Kronos Quartet will give the NY premiere of Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11, for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2011 Next Wave Festival, with four nights of performances at the BAM Harvey Theatre, September 21–24, featuring special guests the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, conducted by Dianne Berkun. Watch a preview video here. Next Wave Season Tickets are on sale to the general public now.

Kronos Quartet will be the featured guests on CBC radio arts program Q Wednesday morning. Kronos will be joined on the program by pipa virtuoso Wu Man, who also joins the group in the fourth and final concert of its residency at the Luminato Festival in Toronto Wednesday night. The concert features the Canadian premiere of the multimedia piece A Chinese Home. The Toronto Star says of Sunday's free outdoor concert from Kronos: "This is what makes Luminato special."

Kronos Quartet begins its residency at the Luminato Festival in Toronto today. The residency features four concerts reflecting the Quartet's global musical journey. Kronos is "one of the world's finest—and definitely most adventurous—chamber ensembles," says the Toronto Star. "Every one of their nearly four-dozen albums—which have earned every industry award imaginable—have introduced their growing legion of fans and audiences to a new piece of a global musical puzzle."

Kronos Quartet was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, which recognizes outstanding achievement and excellence in music, in a ceremony held last night at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. As the recipient of this honor, Kronos receives a monetary award of $75,000. At last night’s ceremony, Nonesuch Records President Robert Hurwitz spoke of the label’s relationship with Kronos, now three decades strong, and the group’s unique contributions to the world of music. Read the full text of his speech here.

Kronos Quartet was in Glasgow, Scotland, this past weekend for Kronos in Glasgow, a mini-festival in which Kronos was joined by special guest collaborators, hand-picked by the Quartet, for an international program of events taking place all weekend across Glasgow's Concert Halls. The Herald Scotland gives a perfect five stars to Friday's main Kronos concert in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, which featured "Reich's remarkable multi-layered response to 9/11." STV calls the concert "a triumph ... nothing less than entrancing and massively entertaining from start to finish."

Kronos Quartet continues a month of major events—which included their winning the Avery Fisher Prize and the Polar Music Prize, and the European premiere of Steve Reich's WTC 9/11 at the Barbican—with Kronos in Glasgow, a mini-festival in which Kronos Quartet is joined by special guest collaborators, hand-picked by Kronos, for an international program of events taking place all weekend across Glasgow's Concert Halls, including the Scottish premiere of WTC 9/11.

Steve Reich was the guest of honor at the Barbican in London for Reverberations, a weekend-long music marathon exploring his music and influence, featuring Kronos Quartet in the European premiere of his WTC 9/11. The Daily Telegraph gives Reverberations a perfect five stars, saying that while Reich's "influence has been massive ... it was the innocence and shy ecstasy of Reich’s own music that left the deepest impression." The Times and Evening Standard give the festival four stars. Kronos gives the Scottish premiere of WTC 9/11 this Friday for the weekend's Kronos in Glasgow festival.

Kronos Quartet will give the European premiere of Steve Reich's WTC 9/11—the composer's musical response to the attacks of September 11, 2001—at London's Barbican Hall this weekend, following Saturday's NY premiere at Carnegie Hall. The New Yorker's Alex Ross writes: "It is a dark, raw, haunting piece, its detached fury indicative of the undiminished powers of a great American artist who will celebrate his 75th birthday in October." Nonesuch will release the first recording of WTC 9/11 in September. You can listen to an excerpt of the recording here. [Ed: Excerpt no longer available.]

Nonesuch Records wishes to congratulate Kronos Quartet, which has been named the recipient of two internationally renowned awards: in the United States, the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, awarded for outstanding achievement and excellence in music, and in Sweden, the Polar Music Prize, an international music prize awarded to individuals, groups, or institutions in recognition of exceptional achievements. No other musician or ensemble has ever won both prizes, let alone in a single year. Also receiving the 2011 Polar Music Prize is singer/songwriter/poet Patti Smith.

Steve Reich's 75th was celebrated in style at Carnegie Hall Saturday night with an all-Reich concert that included the NY premieres of WTC 9/11, Mallet Quartet, and 2x5 and a performance of Double Sextet. Carnegie Hall "assembled a starry roster of new-music ensembles," says the New York Times, "and the results will be hard to top." NPR says the concert showed that Reich "continues to make innovative music and is still one of the most important and influential voices of our era." The pieces "were individually marvelous," says SPIN, "and collectively provided a terrific summing up of what Reich is all about ... [E]very piece of the evening was a small miracle." The composer and performers head next to London for Reverberations, the Barbican's two-day celebration of Reich's work and influences.

Steve Reich and his latest piece, WTC 9/11, are featured in the Wall Street Journal. Kronos Quartet will give the piece its NYC premiere at Carnegie Hall this Saturday as part of an all-Reich, multi-artist concert celebrating the composer's 75th birth year. Time Out New York calls it "a program suited to its festive occasion." The Barbican in London celebrates the following weekend with Reverberations: The Influence of Steve Reich; enter to win tickets and more.