Jazz Articles about Kronos Quartet

About Kronos Quartet

Album Review

Kronos Quartet: Glorious Mahalia

Read "Glorious Mahalia" reviewed by Scott Gudell

by Scott Gudell
May 16, 2026

Founded over a half century ago, the Kronos Quartet may look like a classical quartet but time and time again they trick us with their chameleon-like output. They color outside the lines of potentially confining mid-20th century contemporary classical music as they progressively toy with a myriad of genres including jazz, minimalism, beat poetry, rock ala Jimi Hendrix, Dracula and, well, just about anything else. Early Kronos albums found the quartet interpreting the music of jazz giants such as Thelonious ...

Radio & Podcasts

David Harrington Of Kronos Quartet: The Musician Listens

by Lawrence Peryer
October 25, 2025

Today, the Spotlight shines on violinist and visionary David Harrington, founder of Kronos Quartet.For fifty years, David has led one of the most adventurous musical ensembles on the planet. Kronos has commissioned over 1,100 works, collaborated with everyone from Philip Glass to Nine Inch Nails, and earned three Grammys along the way. Their recent “Hard Rain" project brought together nearly fifty artists worldwide to reimagine Bob Dylan's nuclear-age anthem, while the Library of Congress has just acquired David's ...

Live Review

Kronos Festival 2025 at SFJAZZ Center

by Harry S. Pariser
May 18, 2025

Kronos Quartet Kronos Festival 2025 SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, CA April 25-27, 2025 In August of 1973, Seattle-based violinist David Harrington listened to composer George Crumb's Black Angels for the first time on a radio program, This initial encounter with an amplified string quartet inspired him to found Kronos Quartet. Following a move to San Francisco, Kronos struggled to gain traction before being offered a two-year residency at Mills College in Oakland. ...

Live Review

Kronos Festival at SFJAZZ Center

by Harry S. Pariser
April 27, 2022

Kronos Quartet SFJAZZ Center Kronos Festival 2022 San Francisco, CA April 7-9, 2022 Founded in 1973, Kronos Quartet has long been one of San Francisco's musical treasures. Yet, because the quartet tours internationally, a performance in its home city is an event to take note of. The three-day Kronos Festival has been a local tradition since 2014. Over 900 compositions have been composed for the group, which is famous for its collaborations with musicians ...

Album Review

Stephan Thelen: World Dialogue

Read "World Dialogue" reviewed by Mario Calvitti

by Mario Calvitti
April 12, 2021

Il chitarrista Stephan Thelen, californiano trapiantato in Svizzera dove risiede e lavora, è uno dei musicisti più interessanti tra quelli che nel corso del nuovo millennio si sono adoperati per rinnovare il linguaggio della chitarra, cercando nuove forme e tecniche espressive per esplorare le illimitate possibilità dello strumento. La sua discografia annovera diversi album da solista e con il gruppo SONAR (la cui musica è stata paragonata alle geometrie contorte e alle illusioni prospettiche delle incisioni di Mauritius Cornelius Escher ...

Album Review

Stephan Thelen: World Dialogue

Read "World Dialogue" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
November 22, 2020

Stephan Thelen's compositions for his band Sonar have a minimalist groove that clearly relates to other groups in the experimental sphere like Swiss pianist and composer Nik Bärtsch's band Ronin. These works for string quartet are not stylistically far removed from Thelen's Sonar music, but the classical chamber music context establishes them in the world occupied by composers like Steve Reich. Thelen's desire to compose for the Kronos Quartet was the driver for this album. He composed the ...

Album Review

Kronos Quartet/Terry Riley: Sun Rings

Read "Sun Rings" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
September 19, 2019

In addition to their performance of 20th century classics, modern music specialists The Kronos Quartet have a long history of commissioning new works from contemporary composers. But their relationship with minimalist pioneer Terry Riley is a special one. After composing the open-scored In C in 1964, Riley increasingly turned his attention towards improvised performances with tape-delay and organ—later adding voice (inspired by studying Indian raga singing with Pandit Pran Nath) and substituting synthesizer for organ. When Riley and ...