The Chamber Music Network
The Kronos Quartet, left to right: David Harrington, Sunny Yang, John Sherba and Hank Dutt; Photo by Lenny Gonzalez
The Kronos Quartet, left to right: David Harrington, Sunny Yang, John Sherba and Hank Dutt; Photo by Lenny Gonzalez

Kronos Quartet "50 for the Future" Online Masterclasses

Stephanie Griffin
12 July, 2022

There are so many ways to celebrate a milestone anniversary – ACMP at 75 and the Kronos Quartet at 50 – but nobody does it quite like the Kronos Quartet!

In 2015, the Kronos Performing Arts Association launched its legacy project Kronos’ 50 For the Future, commissioning 50 composers from around the world to write new works for string quartet, specifically with the goal of guiding amateur and early-career professional string quartets in developing and honing the skills required for the performance of 21st-century repertoire. Kronos has been featuring the new works in its own concert programs since launching the program. After the completion of each piece, KPAA uploads parts, scores, recordings and video interviews with each composer to the 50 for the Future website. Anyone who is interested in playing the new repertoire can download scores and parts for free directly from the site. To date, 50 For the Future works have been downloaded more than 26,000 times in 100+ countries and territories worldwide.

EXPLORE THE 50 FOR THE FUTURE LIBRARY

 

It’s an incredible resource – not just for string players! Drawing on 49 years of collaborations with composers from all over the world and all stylistic backgrounds, the Kronos Quartet has curated an eclectic collection of new works celebrating the exciting plurality of classical music in the 21st century. String players may have the added benefit of being able to play these pieces, but all music-lovers will enjoy browsing through the site and listening to the pieces and watching video interviews of the composers.

Kronos and ACMP:

For nearly 50 years, San Francisco’s Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet and its nonprofit Kronos Performing Arts Association have reimagined and redefined the string quartet experience through thousands of concerts, over 60 recordings, collaborations with composers and performers from around the globe, more than 1,000 commissioned works, and education programs for emerging musicians. Since 2015, Kronos has been engaging in a wide array of educational projects centered around 50 For the Future repertoire – with college-level music majors, teenagers, children – and now with adult amateurs through ACMP. 

For me, this is the most exciting way in which ACMP can celebrate its own 75th Anniversary, by inviting adult amateur musicians in our community to delve into this fascinating library of new works, and join in on two online master classes with all four members of the Kronos Quartet at 2pm Eastern on Saturday, November 12, 2022 and Saturday, April 15, 2023.

The first step is finding ensembles that would like to actively participate by learning one of the new works and playing in one of the classes.

SIGN UP TO PLAY FOR THE KRONOS QUARTET

Shortlist of easy to intermediate level pieces:

 

If you would like to play in one of the classes, feel free to choose from the whole library. However, some of the pieces are rather challenging. If you would like some guidance on finding more manageable works, members of KPAA’s educational team have created a shortlist of pieces from the collection on the easy-to-medium difficulty end of the spectrum:

Guillermo Galindo / Remote Control

Raven Chacon / The Journey of the Horizontal People

Soo Yeon Lyuh / Yessori 

Aleksandra Vrebalov / My Desert, My Rose 

Missy Mazzoli / Enthusiasm Strategies

Aftab Darvishi / Daughters of Sol 

Nicole Lizée / Another Living Soul  

Jlin / Little Black Book

Merlijn Twaalfhoven / Play 

Charlton Singleton / Testimony 

Fodé Lassana Diabaté / Sunjata's Time 

 

SAXOPHONE ALERT: There is an arrangement of Fodé Lassana Diabaté’s piece Sunjata’s Time for saxophone quartet. Saxophonists will get first dibs on this work! Parts for the arrangement are not up on the Kronos site, but ACMP can obtain them for you.

 

Joining the class as an audience member:

Stay tuned! Once I have all the ensembles lined up, I will share links to sign up as an audience member for each class. Both classes will also be live-streamed on Facebook and archived on the ACMP YouTube account.