The Kronos Quartet Announces Retirements and New Members

By Laurie Niles: The Kronos Quartet announced Tuesday that after more than 45 years with the ensemble, violinist John Sherba and violist Hank Dutt will retire in June, following the ensemble's 50th-anniversary season. The remaining members, violinist and founder David Harrington and cellist Paul Wiancko (who joined in 2023) will be joined by two new members: violinist Gabriela Díaz and violist Ayane Kozasa. Dutt joined Kronos in 1977, and he and Harrington recruited Sherba to join the group in 1978. Since that time, the Kronos Quartet has grown from an upstart ensemble to a global cultural force, performing thousands of concerts around the world and selling more than 4 million recordings on Nonesuch and other labels – more than any other string quartet in history. The group has commissioned more than 1,100 new works and arrangements to date, and has won three Grammy awards (and 12 nominations) and numerous other prizes. In 2017, Kronos Performing Arts Association inaugurated the Kronos 50 for the Future project, commissioning 50 works designed expressly for learning and distributing them for free. More fundamentally, Kronos has transformed the string quartet medium itself, bursting through stylistic and geographical boundaries, and incorporating sound design, lighting, and theatrical elements into its presentations. "It is a dream come true to have been involved in the birth of so many important compositions, to have experienced all the major halls and their audiences, to have performed with an astonishing array of guest artists, to have worked with our amazing manager, Janet Cowperthwaite, our staff, and our KPAA board, to have made many recordings, and most importantly, to have been surrounded by the incredible Kronos players, past and present," Sherba said. "I can’t believe I am approaching 70! I have decided, with a lot of contemplation, to free up my calendar, retire from Kronos, spend more time with my family, and spontaneously pursue my many other passions." Here is a haiku Sherba wrote about his impending retirement:

New lands call, heart sings Swinging fences, sunlit walks Silence hums, ‘well done’ – John Sherba

“I cannot imagine a career more artistically rewarding than the past 47 years I have spent with the Kronos Quartet," Dutt said. "Every day has been an adventure, with a steady stream of collaborations with new composers, new musicians, and old friends. But for every thing there is a season. Having celebrated Kronos’ 50th anniversary, I feel now is the moment for me to step back and let a violist from the next generation further the Kronos tradition. I am looking forward to the next chapter of my life in music." Kronos' new violinist, Gabriela Díaz, is a proponent of contemporary music who has worked closely with many significant composers on their own compositions - composers including Pierre Boulez, Jessie Montgomery, Alvin Lucier, Unsuk Chin, John Zorn, Joan Tower, Roger Reynolds, Chaya Czernowin, Steve Reich, Tania León, Brian Ferneyhough, and Helmut Lachenmann. A native of Georgia, she is the concertmaster of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), and a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble and A Far Cry. She teaches at Wellesley College and the Longy School of Music at Bard College, and is the co-artistic director of the chamber music and outreach organization Winsor Music. Violinist Ayane Kozasa is a chamber musician, collaborator, and educator. She is a founding member of the award-winning Aizuri Quartet, which she belonged to for eleven years. A winner of the Primrose International Viola Competition, she has commissioned multiple new works featuring the viola. Currently, she is a member of the duo Ayane & Paul with Paul Wiancko. Together, the two collaborated on Norah Jones’ album Pick Me Up Off the Floor, and are also part of Owls, a quartet collective with violinist Alexi Kenney and cellist Gabriel Cabezas. Active in mentoring young musicians, she is on the viola faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and has been guest faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Northwestern University. Before their official retirement in June, Sherba and Dutt will perform more than 20 shows the quartet, including the Big Ears Festival, The Town Hall in New York, the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, and appearances in Toronto, Dublin, Hamburg, Vienna, Zürich, Luxembourg City, Hanover, and Amsterdam, among other cities. They will give their final performances with the group at the ninth annual Kronos Festival, June 20 - 23, 2024 at the SFJAZZ Center in the group's hometown, San Francisco. "Words can hardly express the depth of gratitude and appreciation I feel for the immense energy, dedication, and single-minded devotion Hank and John have given Kronos every day during all of these years," said Harrington, who is also Artistic Director of the quartet. "Their expertise, good cheer and friendship have been at the heart of all of our work. I wish them everything good in their onward journeys." Here is a trailer for a recent documentary about the Kronos Quartet, "Kronos Quartet and Sam Green: A Thousand Thoughts": You might also like:

• Kronos '50 for the Future' Makes New Quartet Music Available for Students
• Violinist.com interview with Ayane Kozasa, winner of the 2011 Primrose International Viola Competition
• Paul Wiancko Appointed Director of Chamber Music for Spoleto USA, Succeeding Geoff Nuttall

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