Floodplain, Kronos Quartet's most recent Nonesuch release features music inspired by the idea that floodplains—which are prone to devastating flooding—will experience new life after a catastrophe, just as cultures that undergo great difficulty will experience creative fertility. The New York Times finds this to be an apt metaphor and in keeping with Kronos's core beliefs, rooted in its earliest performances, which "turned the introverted quartet idiom outward through its extramusical effects and social concerns. Mr. Harrington and company have been extending that path ever since."

Kronos Quartet's Floodplain is out now, and the reviews from the UK prove that Kronos's latest global exploration is as expansive as its repertoire. The Sunday Times gives the album four stars, calling it both "one of their most inspired so far" and "one of the albums of the year." The Guardian gives it four stars, too, calling the music "engaging, challenging, complex and rewarding." The Observer Music Monthly, in its four-star review, sees the Quartet "as intellectually engaging as ever." The Evening Standard gives Floodplain a perfect five stars, calling its repertoire "vivid and powerful ... music that grabs by the throat and doesn't let go." Scotland's Herald also gives it a perfect five stars, dubbing it "an entrancing journey."

Kronos Quartet's latest album, Floodplain, is out today. On the album, the Quartet explores vintage pop from Egypt, folk from Azerbaijan, electronica from a Palestinian music collective, and an ambitious piece from Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov. The Independent (UK) gives it four stars, calling it "a one-world project handled with suitably welcoming passion and respect." The Oregonian says the evocative metaphor of the album's title is apt for this adventurous group. "Think of Floodplain as creative fertility, as only Kronos can do ... It feels unusually current, even politically current, with music from parts of the world we often only read about. That's what we love about this string quartet: playing that is exploratory, fearless and full of intent."

John Adams has been honored with the 2009 National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honors. "This award represents the greatest honor our nation bestows in opera, and recognizes individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to opera in the United States and have become cultural treasures of the nation," says the NEA. Adams's first opera, Nixon in China, will receive its Canadian premiere with the Vancouver Opera next March for the Cultural Olympiad 2010. Also included in the Olympic Games' arts celebration are performances by Kronos Quartet and by Laurie Anderson.

Terry Riley's groundbreaking Minimalist masterwork In C turns a remarkable 45 years young this year. To celebrate, Kronos Quartet has gathered about 60 performers, many of whom participated in the piece's premiere in San Francisco in 1964, to join them and the composer to perform the work in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium for the first time. Playbill calls the piece "the minimalist musical be-in that altered the course of music history." New York magazine says, "Carnegie Hall’s extravaganza should yield a rich, polychrome stew of sound."

Kronos Quartet kicked off the fourth-annual MusicNow Festival last night with its first of two MusicNow performances at Cincinnati's Memorial Hall; the group performs again tonight with a program of music from Africa, Mexico, India, Greece, and the Middle East. Toumani Diabaté, who was scheduled to appear as well, has had to cancel due to an illness. The festival's organizers report that they are working to reschedule his performance for another day.

Kronos Quartet and Toumani Diabaté are set to headline the fourth-annual MusicNow festival in downtown Cincinnati's Memorial Hall, which runs tonight and tomorrow night. The festival is curated by Cincinnati native Bryce Dessner, of The National. For tonight's concert, Kronos will perform two new pieces commissioned for the festival, including one by Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry; opening are The Books. Tomorrow night, the Quartet will open the show with music from across the globe, before Diabaté takes the stage with songs from The Mandé Variations.

John Adams has been named the first-ever Creative Chair of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, beginning next season, the orchestra's first with Music Director Designate Gustavo Dudamel. "John’s work, vision and big knowledge of all music, especially new music, is so deep," says Dudamel. The 2009/10 season gets under way with an Opening Night Gala concert, pairing Mahler's First Symphony with the world premiere of Adams's City Noir. As Creative Chair, the composer curates the West Coast: Left Coast festival, beginning late November, with a residency by Kronos Quartet; a new work by Thomas Newman; a jazz trio with Joshua Redman; and concerts led by Adams.

Kronos Quartet has been named the sole Perspectives artist in Carnegie Hall 2009/10 concert season. Perspectives: Kronos Quartet will feature five concerts over the course of the season, and the Quartet will lead a Professional Training Workshop through The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall. Kronos has also been made the ensemble-in-residency for next season's West Coast: Left Coast festival at Disney Hall, curated by John Adams as the LA Philharmonic's first creative director. This season, Kronos has been added to the roster for the MusicNOW festival, premiering a piece by Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry.

Kronos Quartet is in Paris to help launch the International Year of Astronomy, organized by UNESCO. The year marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first astronomical observations with a telescope. Opening ceremonies were held this morning, and conference events continue through Friday. In the closing ceremony, Kronos will give the French premiere of Terry Riley's Sun Rings, which features celestial sounds captured by plasma wave receivers and images from NASA's archives.

Since the last Nonesuch Journal entry of 2008, which laid out scores of year-end best-of lists featuring Nonesuch albums and artists, still more critical praise has come in placing this music among the year's best.

Kronos Quartet's performance in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall on Friday night featured a number of first performances: three New York premieres, including that of Glenn Kotche's Anomaly, and three world premieres. Also on the program was the piece that first launched the group in 1973: George Crumb's Black Angels. The New York Times says, for Kronos, it was "a springboard for an extraordinary career of boundary-breaking discovery and innovation." Friday night's "vivid, powerfully realized staging" added still more to the power of the piece, at one point eliciting "a collective gasp" from the audience.