Kronos Quartet will give the New York premiere of Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11, for the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)'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.

Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11 was created by Kronos for a concert in San Francisco on September 11, 2006, five years after the attacks. Its catalyst was the debut of a specially commissioned work by Michael Gordon titled The Sad Park, which incorporates the sampled voices of young children who witnessed the events at Ground Zero.

Around that nucleus, the group assembled works from Uzbekistan, Iraq, Iran, India, Germany, Argentina, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Canada, and the United States, drawing from composers including Terry Riley, Osvaldo Golijov and Gustavo Santaolalla. Since the premiere, Awakening has been presented in several cities around the US; the Next Wave performances mark its New York debut.

This collection of works reflects upon those instances where traditional language fails, and music steps in to restore what Kronos Quartet artistic director and violinist David Harrington refers to as
“equilibrium in the midst of imbalance.”

In addition to the Awakening performances, Harrington will participate in an artist talk titled Artists Respond to 9/11 at the BAM Rose Cinemas on September 22.

Get a preview of what's to come in this video from BAM:

Next Wave Season Tickets are on sale to the general public now. Single tickets for Awakening are on sale for Friends of BAM on Aug 22 and for the general public on Aug 29. For more information, visit bam.org.

For additional upcoming performances from Kronos Quartet, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.