Kronos Quartet and Allison Russell

Inspired by George Crumb’s Black Angels, violinist David Harrington founded Kronos Quartet in Seattle, Washington, U.S. in 1973. He was later joined by violinist John Sherba, violist Hank Dutt, and cellist Joan Jeanrenaud, with the group’s initial output focused on contemporary compositions. The group began playing in relaxed settings at odds with the often binding formality of chamber music, which developed an accessibility to their music. The group’s first big breakthrough album arrived in 1987 entitled “White Man Sleeps”, followed two years later by their recording of Reich’s “Different Trains”. The latter of which won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition.

In 1998 the group contributed to the Dave Matthews Band album “Before These Crowded Streets”, before cellist Joan Jeanrenaud left and was replaced by Jennifer Culp. By this time the quartet had celebrated its 25th anniversary and were composers and performers to a collection of over 600 works. The popular 2002 album “Nuevo”, remarkably dubbed a party record, earned both a Grammy and Latin Grammy Award nomination in 2002, followed a year later by a Grammy win for the recording of Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite.

As of 2002 the group had developed a strong working relationship with composer Terry Riley, who was commissioned by NASA to compose “Sun Rings” using sounds and images recording by NASA instruments. That composition was written for Kronos Quartet and highlights the group’s proclivity for working with high-profile composers including Steve Reich, Henryk Górecki, Osvaldo Golijov, and Franghiz Ali-Zadeh. After the recording of “You’ve Stolen My Heart: Songs from R.D. Burma’s Bollywood” in 2005 new cellist Jeffrey Zeigler joined the ranks in place of the departed Culp. In 2011 the album “Uniko” appeared in a collaboration with Samuli Kosminen, after which the Kronos Quartet won the Avery Fisher Prize in the States and the Polar Music Prize in Sweden for their classical music achievements.