The Kronos Quartet is a San Francisco-based American string quartet that has thrived for nearly five decades with a rotating roster of musicians. Known for its versatility, the quartet embraces an extensive range of musical genres, encompassing contemporary classical music.
Kronos’s musical repertoire spans diverse genres, including Mexican folk, experimental, pre-classical early music, and movie soundtracks (notably “Requiem for a Dream,” “Heat,” and “The Fountain”). They have also ventured into jazz, tango, and recorded unique adaptations of songs such as Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” Sigur Rós’s “Flugufrelsarinn,” Television’s “Marquee Moon,” Raymond Scott’s “Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals,” and Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”
The quartet has collaborated with an array of global musicians, featuring artists like Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle, Mexican-American painter Gronk, American soprano Dawn Upshaw, jazz composer/performer Pat Metheny, Azerbaijani mugam singer Alim Qasimov, and the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks, among others.
Kronos has graced the stage alongside notable figures like poet Allen Ginsberg, Astor Piazzolla, The National, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Tom Waits, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, and Björk. They’ve also recorded with artists such as Nelly Furtado, Rokia Traoré, Joan Armatrading, Brazilian electronica artist Amon Tobin, Texas yodeler Don Walser, Faith No More, Tiger Lillies, and David Grisman.
In 1984, Frank Zappa composed “None of the Above” for Kronos, with the quartet performing the first movement in the 2020 documentary “Zappa,” directed by Alex Winter. The film also includes an interview with Kronos’s artistic director, founder, and violinist, David Harrington.
Notably, Kronos Quartet contributed to the 1998 Dave Matthews Band album “Before These Crowded Streets” and the 2007 Nine Inch Nails remix album “Year Zero Remixed,” where they covered the track “Another Version of the Truth.” They also performed Lee Brooks’s score for the short film “2081,” based on Kurt Vonnegut’s story “Harrison Bergeron.”
In 2009, Kronos provided an acoustic version of Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was the Night” for the AIDS benefit album “Dark Was the Night,” produced by the Red Hot Organization.
In 2017, the quartet featured on the soundtrack for the video game “Destiny 2,” performing as guest artists on the tracks “Lost Light” and “Journey.”
Kronos Quartet has commissioned over 1,000 pieces during its illustrious career, actively contributing to the world of contemporary classical music. They’ve collaborated with renowned minimalist composers like John Adams, Arvo Pärt, George Crumb, Henryk Górecki, Steve Reich, Roberto Paci Dalò, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, and Kevin Volans. Their collaborators hail from various countries, including Finland, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Ukraine, and Argentina. Additionally, some of Kronos’s string-quartet arrangements were published in 2007.
