CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Kronos Quartet

Zankel Hall
Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 7:30 PM

Kronos Quartet
·· David Harrington, Violin
·· John Sherba, Violin
·· Hank Dutt, Viola
·· Jeffrey Zeigler, Cello
Young People's Chorus of New York City
Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director

TERRY RILEY Another Secret eQuation (World Premiere)
TERRY RILEY Transylvanian Horn Courtship (NY Premiere)
TERRY RILEY The Welcoming Baptism of Sweet Daisy Grace (NY Premiere)
TERRY RILEY "One Earth, One People, One Love" from Sun Rings
TERRY RILEY "Good Medicine" from Salome Dances for Peace

Perspectives: Kronos Quartet

Program is approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes, including one intermission

Program Notes:

Terry Riley and Kronos Quartet: Reinventing the String Quartet for 30 Years

Terry Riley irrevocably changed the course of music history by establishing the Minimalist movement with his 1964 composition In C, and he earned devoted fans from the realms of classical, jazz, rock, folk, and world music through his genre-defying improvisations on keyboard, saxophone, and voice. But Riley has also been America’s most prolific composer of string quartets. These remarkable works, encompassing the broadest possible musical vocabulary, are among the most significant contributions to contemporary chamber music literature.

Equally remarkable is that, aside from an early modernist work written in 1960 while he was completing his master’s degree at the University of California in Berkeley, all of Riley’s music involving string quartet was created for and premiered by the Kronos Quartet, making this perhaps the most fruitful relationship in history between a composer and an ensemble. In fact, Riley’s interactions with Kronos have affected his overall trajectory as a composer: Before working with Kronos, he had ceased being interested in notating his music, and only through the ensemble’s prodding did he once again become inspired by score-based creation. Similarly, Riley had a profound effect on Kronos’s subsequent direction as an ensemble, opening the foursome up to music far beyond the previously assumed confines of “new music,” into traditions and innovations from all over the globe. This year seems particularly fitting to commemorate their partnership since 2010 is not only Riley’s 75th birthday year, but it also marks the 30th anniversary of Riley’s first composition for Kronos, the hauntingly beautiful G Song.

Overall, Riley has completed around two dozen compositions that have involved the Kronos Quartet. These works range from single-movement pieces—such as the viscerally exciting Sunrise of the Interplanetary Dream Collector (1980) and arrangements of melodies composed by Riley’s guru, the legendary North Indian vocalist Pandit Pran Nath—to massive multi-movement epics, including the two-hour Salome Dances for Peace (1986) and the semi-improvisational Cadenza on the Night Plain (1983). They also include a concerto for string quartet and orchestra, The Sands (1991). For the deeply moving Requiem for Adam (1998), composed in memory of the teenage son of Kronos founder David Harrington, the quartet performs along with an electronic soundtrack. In The Cusp of Magic (2004), a quintet for Kronos and Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man, the members of the ensemble are also asked to make sounds using a wide array of children’s toys. But perhaps the most unusual of Riley’s works with Kronos to date is Sun Rings (2002), an evening-length multimedia work in which the string quartet is joined by a full chorus plus pre-recorded sounds and images from outer space.

While tonight’s Kronos–Riley celebration offers us an opportunity to hear selections from this remarkable body of work, the majority of the music performed tonight will be new to this audience. Two works, Transylvanian Horn Courtship and The Welcoming Baptism of Sweet Daisy Grace, both from 2008, have never before been performed in New York. And Another Secret eQuation (2009), for string quartet and children’s chorus, will be receiving its world premiere.

Another Secret eQuation is dedicated to the memory of prominent physicist Hans Siegmann—the project director at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and the husband of Katrina Krimsky, who performed the pulse both on the world premiere recording of In C in 1968 as well as during the all-star Carnegie Hall performance of In C organized by Kronos last season. The composition is in three sections and features a text written by Riley and sung at this performance by the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, who also participated in the 2009 In C extravaganza. According to Riley:

“I wrote the text keeping in mind that young people would be singing, and that the ideas expressed would gently address the actions of their elders and the overwhelmingly messy world the kids were being handed. The third section offers up some nonsense syllables as a possible antidote to the gobbledygook that poses as wisdom from some of our esteemed leaders.”

Transylvanian Horn Courtship requires the members of Kronos to perform on custom Stroh instruments in addition to their traditional instruments. The Stroh violin, invented in the late 19th century by German instrument builder Johannes Matthias Augustus Stroh, looks like a bizarre crossbreed of a violin and a trumpet. Basically, the traditional wooden sound box is removed and replaced with a horn-shaped metal resonator to amplify the sound. Harrington was fascinated with these unusual instruments, and once he got Riley interested, Kronos commissioned a full set from Tanzanian-born MacArthur “genius” grantee, composer, performer, and instrument builder Walter Kitundu. Riley requested that Kitundu design the instruments to be tuned a fifth lower than a quartet is normally tuned in order to further accentuate the darker hue of their unique timbre. Riley’s resultant 34-minute composition is in one continuous movement with nine sections, contrasting the Stroh intruments with those of the traditional quartet. Additionally, two of the sections feature a real-time looping device.

The Welcoming Baptism of Sweet Daisy Grace was composed during the same period as Courtship, but is a much more introspective work. Throughout the performance, the quartet is accompanied by a pre-recorded drone performed on a specially tuned tamboura, the omnipresent drone instrument used in North Indian classical music performances. According to Riley, “The tamboura sound web is a metaphor for a luminous passageway that conducts us first to birth and then, inevitably, to death.” The quartet was composed in late 2008 as an offering to his soon-to-be born granddaughter, Daisy Grace Riley, who finally arrived on March 1, 2009.

“One Earth, One People, One Love,” which is the 10th and final movement of Sun Rings, is an ecstatic affirmation of humanity and our shared future. In Riley’s own words:

“If only we will let the stars mirror back to us the big picture of the Universe and the tiny precious speck of it we inhabit that we call Earth, maybe we will be given the humility and insight to love and appreciate all life and living forms wherever our journeys take us.”

Tonight’s program concludes with “Good Medicine,” the fifth and final section of Salome Dances for Peace, another work in which Riley conjures up an alternate universe where all the peoples of the world finally get along with each other and are at peace. Riley, ever the optimist, has remarked:

“I’m always trying to find ways that I can, besides doing music, contribute to world peace, or maybe neighborhood peace or home peace. I told David [Harrington] that when we first started, I thought we ought to create a piece that can be played at the United Nations on special holidays. It would not be just a concert piece, but a piece that could be played as a rite.”

—Frank J. Oteri
© 2010 The Carnegie Hall Corporation

More Information:

The Kronos Quartet and composer Terry Riley mark 30 years of prolific collaboration, a strong artistic relationship that has resulted in 26 new works. Transylvanian Horn Courtship, which draws inspiration from his legendary Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band performances in the 1960s, features a set of string instruments with metal horns created especially for Kronos by MacArthur Fellow Walter Kitundu. The program will feature other recent works and commissions for Kronos, including the premiere performance of Another Secret eQuation, for Kronos and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City.

Kronos Quartet
·· David Harrington, Violin
·· John Sherba, Violin
·· Hank Dutt, Viola
·· Jeffrey Zeigler, Cello
Kronos Quartet

David Harrington, Violin
John Sherba, Violin
Hank Dutt, Viola
Jeffrey Zeigler, Cello

For more than 30 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the string quartet. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 45 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of the world’s most eclectic composers and performers, and commissioning more than 650 works and arrangements for string quartet. Kronos’s work also has garnered numerous awards, including a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and Musicians of the Year (2003) from Musical America.

Since 1973, Kronos has built a compellingly diverse repertoire for string quartet, performing and recording works by 20th-century masters (Bartók, Shostakovich, Webern), contemporary composers (Aleksandra Vrebalov, John Adams, Alfred Schnittke), jazz legends (Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk), and artists from even farther afield (Azeri vocalist Alim Qasimov, avant-garde saxophonist John Zorn).

Integral to Kronos’s work is a series of long-running, in-depth collaborations with many of the world’s foremost composers, including Terry Riley, whose work with Kronos includes Salome Dances for Peace, the multimedia production Sun Rings, and 2005’s The Cusp of Magic; Philip Glass, recording his complete string quartets and scores to films like Mishima; Azerbaijan’s Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, who was featured on the 2005 release Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh; Steve Reich, whose Kronos-recorded Different Trains earned a Grammy; Argentina’s Osvaldo Golijov, whose work with Kronos includes both compositions and extensive arrangements; and many more.

In addition to composers, Kronos counts numerous artists from around the world among its regular collaborators, including Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man; legendary Bollywood “playback singer” Asha Bhosle; Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq; Mexican rockers Café Tacuba; and the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks. Kronos has performed live with the likes of icons Allen Ginsberg, Modern Jazz Quartet, Tom Waits, David Barsamian, Howard Zinn, Betty Carter, and David Bowie, and has appeared on recordings by such diverse talents as Nine Inch Nails, Amon Tobin, Dan Zanes, DJ Spooky, Dave Matthews, Nelly Furtado, Rokia Traoré, Joan Armatrading, and Don Walser. Kronos’s music features prominently in other media, including film (Requiem for a Dream, 21 Grams, Heat) and dance, with choreographers such as Merce Cunningham and Eiko and Koma.

Kronos spends five months of each year on tour, appearing in concert halls, clubs, and festivals around the world, including BAM Next Wave Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Barbican in London, WOMAD, UCLA’s Royce Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Shanghai Concert Hall, and the Sydney Opera House. Kronos is equally prolific and wide-ranging on disc. The ensemble’s expansive discography on Nonesuch Records includes such collections as Pieces of Africa (1992), a showcase of African-born composers, which simultaneously topped Billboard’s Classical and World Music lists; 2000’s Kronos Caravan, whose musical “travels” span North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East; 1998’s 10-disc anthology, Kronos Quartet: 25 Years; Nuevo (2002), a Grammy- and Latin Grammy–nominated celebration of Mexican culture; and the 2003 Grammy-winner, Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite.

Kronos’s recording and performances reveal only a fraction of the group’s commitment to new music. As a non-profit organization, the Kronos Quartet / Kronos Performing Arts Association is committed to mentoring emerging professional performers, and to creating, performing, and recording new works.



Terry Riley

California composer Terry Riley launched what is now known as the Minimalist movement with his revolutionary classic In C in 1964. This seminal work changed the course of 20th century music, and its influence has been heard in the works of prominent composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams, as well as in the music of rock groups such as The Who, Soft Machine, Tangerine Dream, and many others.

In 1970, Riley became a disciple of the revered North Indian raga vocalist Pandit Pran Nath and made the first of his numerous trips to India to study with the master. He appeared frequently in concert with the legendary singer as tampura, tabla, and vocal accompanist for a quarter-century, until Pran Nath’s passing in 1996. Riley now regularly performs raga as a vocalist and recently appeared in concert with Zakir Hussain on tabla. In 1999, he performed ragas at the University of Delhi and also performed at the Shivratri festival in Delhi the same year.

While teaching at Mills College in Oakland in the 1970s, Riley met David Harrington, founder of the Kronos Quartet, and they began the long association that has so far produced approximately two dozen works for string quartet, including The Sands—a concerto for string quartet that was the Salzburg Festival’s first-ever new music commission. Cadenza on the Night Plain was selected by both Time and Newsweek as one of the 10 Best Classical Albums of the Year when it was released in the 1980s. The epic five-quartet cycle Salome Dances for Peace was selected as the Classical Album of the Year by USA Today and also was nominated for a Grammy.

Carnegie Hall commissioned Riley’s innovative orchestral piece Jade Palace for its centennial celebration during the 1990–1991 season, premiered by Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Some of the performers and ensembles who have commissioned and performed Riley’s works include the Rova Saxophone Quartet, Arraymusic, Zeitgeist, the Steven Scott Bowed Piano Ensemble, the California E.A.R. Unit, David Tanenbaum, the Assad brothers, the Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio, Werner Bärtschi, and the Amati Quartet.

Riley regularly performs solo piano concerts of his works from the past 30 years. The new millennium began with a tour of a new band, Terry Riley and the All Stars, with the final concert launching the first New Sounds Live concert of the 21st century at Merkin Concert Hall. In May 2000, Riley made his first tour of Russia with solo piano concerts at the Sergey Kuryokin Festival in St. Petersburg and at the Moscow Conservatory.

Young People's Chorus of New York City
Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director
Young People’s Chorus of New York City

For more than two decades, the Young People’s Chorus of New York City has provided children of diverse abilities and ethnic backgrounds with a unique program of music education and choral performance, while maintaining a model of artistic excellence and harmony that enriches the community.

YPC was founded by Francisco J. Núñez in 1988 and has become one of the most celebrated and influential children’s choruses in the world, performing around the globe, releasing acclaimed recordings from across the musical spectrum, and collaborating with many of the most highly regarded composers, performers, and institutions of our time. Through its celebrated Transient Glory series of concerts, publications, and CDs, the chorus has commissioned more than 50 new works from composers that include Pulitzer Prize, Oscar, and MacArthur “genius” grant winners. YPC regularly collaborates with Carnegie Hall, The New York Pops, the Stephen Petronio Company, and the Kronos Quartet, among many others.

More than 1,100 children participate annually through YPC’s core after-school program; its satellite program in New York City schools; and its national affiliates, the Young People’s Chorus of Erie (Pennsylvania), and the Young People’s Chorus at Thurnauer in Tenafly, New Jersey. The resident chorus of three of New York City’s major cultural institutions—the 92nd Street Y, Frederick P. Rose Hall (home of Jazz at Lincoln Center), and WNYC–New York Public Radio—YPC is frequently seen on national television, including appearances on Good Morning America, the Today show, and PBS–TV’s From the Top at Carnegie Hall. Season highlights include the ensemble’s Swiss debut with the Geneva Chamber Orchestra and its third trip to Japan for a 15-city tour this summer.

YPC has received international recognition by winning five gold medals at the World Choir Games in Germany and Austria and top prizes at other international choral competitions in the US, Canada, Spain, and the Czech Republic. Among the YPC’s many other awards and honors are Chorus America’s Education Outreach Award and the Chorus America / ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. YPC was among the first inductees in the WNET/Thirteen Community Hall of Fame and has been recognized for its work with urban at-risk youth by the New York State Assembly, the Mayor of the City of New York, the Manhattan Borough President, and as a “national model of artistic excellence and diversity” by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Visit ypc.org for more information.

Since founding YPC, Artistic Director Francisco J. Núñez has provided young people of all backgrounds with a safe haven for personal and artistic growth through music; to date, he has changed the lives of thousands of young people. He is also sought after as a guest conductor; master teacher and advisor for choral workshops, demonstrations, and festivals nationwide; and as a composer of compositions and arrangements for child and adult choirs, orchestras, and solo instruments, including numerous commissions. Mr. Núñez is a member of the Board of Directors of Chorus America and is the recipient of numerous awards, including a 2009 ASCAP Concert Music Award and the 2009 New York Choral Society’s Choral Excellence Award.