Kronos Quartet
Featured in Carnegie Hall’s United in Sound: America at 250 festival, the game-changing Kronos Quartet presents a semi-staged, multisensory exploration of the histories of Indigenous, Gullah-Geechee, and Chinese American communities in the United States. The first panel of this musical triptych features the visceral, gripping, and poignant artistry of violinist and composer Laura Ortman. The second panel highlights connections between Western African and American cultures nearly lost to history, centering on Lorenzo Dow Turner’s Amelia’s Song, a New York premiere by Charlton Singleton, and more, featuring Grammy-winning percussionist Quentin Baxter. Pipa virtuoso Wu Man and other guests join in the triptych’s final panel, featuring new music by Dai Wei, personal histories of Chinese Americans who expanded civil and immigrant rights in San Francisco, and more.
Part of: United in Sound America at 250
Performers
Kronos Quartet
- David Harrington, Violin
- Gabriela Díaz, Violin
- Ayane Kozasa, Viola
- Paul Wiancko, Cello
Laura Ortman, Apache Violin, Amplified Violin, and Voice
Quentin Baxter, Percussion
Wu Man, Pipa
Program
N. JOSEPH "Song of Salutation"
TRAD. / ELISA HARKINS "The Eagle's Song" (arr. Garbiela Díaz; NY Premiere)
PATTON "Down the Dirt Road Blues" (arr. Jacob Garchik; NY Premiere)
RAVEN CHACON "The Journey of the Horizontal People"
L. WRAY "Rumble" (arr. Jacob Garchik; NY Premiere)
TANYA TAGAQ "Colonizer (Remix)" (arr. Tanya Tagaq, Kronos Quartet, and Joel Tarman)
LAURA ORTMAN WAVES CARVE THE SOUND (arr. Jacob Garchik; NY Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
WYLIE "Kumbaya (Come By Here)"
TRAD. "A Shout" (arr. Jacob Garchik)
CHARLTON SINGLETON Mende Funeral Suite
- Funeral Song
- Fellowship (World Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
OLATUNJI "Zungo" (arr. Jacob Garchik)
TREVOR WESTON "Juba"
A. HASKELL "God Shall Wipe All Tears Away" (arr. Jacob Garchik)
TRAD. "Sometimes I feel Like a Motherless Child" (arr. Stacy Garrop)
TRAD. "Kumbaya" (arr. Trevor Weston; World Premiere)
DAI WEI Through the Paper Gate (NY Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
TAN DUN Selections from Ghost Opera
WU MAN Solo Improvisation
DAI WEI "A Wise Man in the Snow" from Through the Narrow Gate
WU MAN Two Chinese Paintings
TRAD. "Long-ge"
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately three hours, including two 20-minute intermissions.
At a Glance
We experience a world of sound thanks to the three smallest bones in our bodies.
These three tiny bones in our ears—the malleus (“hammer”), incus (“anvil”), and stapes (“stirrup”)—amplify faint vibrations from the outside world, enabling our minds to transform these signals into the aural landscape we know. The sounds of laughter, arguments, raindrops, thunder, and (of course) music are born from the perfect alignment of these three bones—nature’s own amplifier.
Three Bones is a multimedia presentation whose purpose is also to amplify. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the United States, Kronos Quartet marks the occasion by sharing and celebrating three American stories that deserve to be heard more widely. Realized on stage through music, storytelling, vintage recordings, video elements, and visual arts, Three Bones expands on what a concert is through its dynamic narrative structure.