Kronos Quartet returns to the Bay Area to perform at Stanford University's Memorial Auditorium tonight, following two sold-out shows at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge. The concert marks the Opening Night of the Stanford Lively Arts series. On the program, titled Awakening: A Meditation on 9/11, Kronos reflects on that fateful day in works from a dozen countries, joined on stage by the Cantabile Youth Singers.
Kronos Quartet returns home to the Bay Area to perform at Stanford University's Memorial Auditorium tonight. The concert marks the Opening Night of the Stanford Lively Arts series. On the program, titled Awakening: A Meditation on 9/11, Kronos reflects on that fateful day in works from a dozen countries, joined on stage by the Cantabile Youth Singers.
"Most of us carry within ourselves an alarming movie replaying the events of September 11, 2001," says Kronos Quartet's Artistic Director David Harrington. "Kronos offers a new soundtrack to this internal movie."
With the diversity of the program, which includes works from Uzbekistan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, India, Germany, Argentina, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Canada, and the United States, Harrington says the Quartet is hoping "to open windows on an expansive interior place, a place where we can be surrounded by a wealth of musical perspectives. We hope to create equilibrium in the midst of imbalance: a special covering on an open wound."
Including in tonight's event is a pre-performance discussion with Harrington; Elena Sharkova, Artistic Director of the Cantabile Youth Singers; and Jenny Bilfield, Artistic and Executive Director of Staford Lively.
For more information and tickets, visit livelyarts.stanford.edu.
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Last weekend, Kronos Quartet was on the East Coast, performing two sold-out shows at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge, Friday and Saturday nights. The first program featured the world premiere of new works by Aleksandra Vrebalov and Michael Gordon, the New York premiere of Maria Schneider's First String Quartet, plus works by Bryce Dessner, Missy Mazzoli, and Terry Riley. Saturday's show featured additional firsts, including two additional world premieres from Vrebalov and Gordon, and new arrangements of Schubert works by Judith Berkson, who joined on vocals.
New York Times writer Steve Smith, in his review of the two concerts, says that, while this may have been the first time Kronos performed at downtown New York's "epicenter for adventurous music," the venue and performers were well suited to one another, given the diversity of programming for which both are known.
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For the complete Kronos Quartet tour schedule for the 2010/2011 season, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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