Congratulations to Kronos Quartet, which has won the prestigious Ouevreprijs—career achievement prize—at the Edison Klassiek Awards. "Kronos Quartet has recorded more than fifty albums, invariably filled with new notes for the string quartet," says the jury. "It is high time to crown this unique achievement with an Edison Klassiek Ouevreprijs." The annual Dutch music prize will be presented in a ceremony and concert in Amsterdam during NPO 2's Podium Witteman on NPO 2 on November 24.

Kronos Quartet has shared a video for "One Earth, One People, One Love," from Sun Rings, the group's 2002 collaboration with composer Terry Riley of which Nonesuch released the first full recording earlier this year. (This week also marks the 30th anniversary of Kronos Quartet's first full-length Riley album for Nonesuch, Salome Dances for Peace.) Directed by Willie Williams, the new video was made by Treatment Studios for the Sun Rings multimedia live show, which Kronos has performed nearly fifty times in eleven countries and will do so again this concert season.

The line-up for the 2020 Big Ears Festival has been announced, and as usual, featured among the performers are several artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Devendra Banhart, Kronos Quartet, Terry Riley, and Caroline Shaw. Big Ears will be held at venues throughout downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, March 26–29, 2020. Weekend passes go on sale this Thursday.

Kronos Quartet / Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA) has announced the launch of a new website for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire, its ongoing multi-year commissioning, performance, education, and legacy initiative. The site provides a gateway to discover, explore, and learn contemporary string quartets composed by twenty-five women (including Laurie Anderson and Rhiannon Giddens) and twenty-five men from around the world. The free digital learning library currently contains thirty scores and parts, recordings, and supplemental learning materials. Launched in 2015 with Lead Partner Carnegie Hall, the initial scores have been downloaded more than 14,000 times in eighty-eight countries and territories worldwide.

The line-up for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has been announced, and among the performers are several artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Emmylou Harris, Kronos Quartet, Robert Plant, Punch Brothers, Chris Thile, and Yola. The free, annual outdoor music festival returns for the nineteenth year to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, October 4–6, 2019. You can hear songs from all these artists in a playlist here.

Kronos Quartet's groundbreaking 2002 collaboration with composer Terry Riley, Sun Rings, is now available as a recording for the first time. Riley incorporates into his composition "space sounds" (plasma waves) that NASA had collected from the Voyager probes, as well as a choir that represents, in his words, "the voice of humanity in its struggle to understand the meaning of our place in this unfathomable universe." Musical America calls it "a spaceship that faces ahead into the planets but also looks back toward its starting point on Earth."

Kronos Quartet has released a video for "Beebopterismo," a track from the forthcoming recording of Terry Riley's Sun Rings. The video arrives ahead of Saturday's 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The piece was commissioned in part by the NASA Art Program and includes plasma waves recorded from NASA spacecraft. The video, edited by Robert Edridge-Waks, features footage from Willie Williams' visual design for the staged multimedia production of the piece. Watch it here.

Kronos Quartet’s groundbreaking 2002 collaboration with composer Terry Riley, Sun Rings, will be available in full for the first time on August 30 via Nonesuch Records. Riley incorporates into his composition "space sounds" (plasma waves) that NASA had collected from the Voyager probes, as well as a choir that represents, in his words, "the voice of humanity in its struggle to understand the meaning of our place in this unfathomable universe." Musical America calls it "a spaceship that faces ahead into the planets but also looks back toward its starting point on Earth." Pre-order to download the track "Beebopterismo" now.

The SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco has announced its 2019–20 concert season, and among the performers taking the Miner Auditorium stage are several Nonesuch artists: Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Rhiannon Giddens, Kronos Quartet, and Laurie Anderson, who is an SFJAZZ Resident Artist Director for the season.

Stanford Live has announced its 2019–20 concert season, and featured among the performers taking the stage at Bing Concert Hall in Stanford, California, are several Nonesuch artists: Brad Mehldau, Kronos Quartet, Laurie Anderson, and Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi.

The Philharmonie de Paris has announced its 2019–20 season, and featured among the performers taking the esteemed venue's stages are a number of artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal, including Laurie Anderson, Rokia Traoré, Kronos Quartet, and Pat Metheny, as well as works by Steve Reich.

Kronos Quartet and Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA) will present its fifth-annual, three-day hometown music festival, Kronos Festival 2019, at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, May 30–June 1. This year, the festival highlights the voices of singers, storytellers, and activists over three evening concerts—including one with Nonesuch label mate Sam Amidon—a Saturday morning family concert, and Kronos Labs, free public events that are new this year.