125TH ANNIVERSARY

2015–2016 SEASON

The Richard and Barbara Debs Creative Chair: Kronos Quartet

Carnegie Hall has appointed the pioneering contemporary music group Kronos Quartet to hold the position of the Richard and Barbara Debs Creative Chair for the 2015–2016 season. For the Hall’s 125th anniversary season, Kronos assumes a role that has been annually engaged by Carnegie Hall’s Debs Composer’s Chair, serving as the Hall’s primary advocate for the commissioning, writing, preparation, and performance of new music that represents a broad spectrum of composers and repertoire. Carnegie Hall commemorates its 125th anniversary by honoring the present and looking to the future with the launch of an ambitious commissioning project. From the 2015–2016 through 2019–2020 seasons, at least 125 new works will be commissioned by Carnegie Hall from established and emerging composers. Beginning in 2015–2016, Kronos Quartet and the Kronos Performing Arts Association embark on its own initiative, Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire, in which 50 new works will be commissioned—10 per year over five years—to form a central component of Carnegie Hall’s 125 anniversary commissions. Music commissioned as part of Fifty for the Future—to be performed at Carnegie Hall and many other venues around the world—will be devoted to the most contemporary approaches to the string quartet, and designed expressly for the training of students and emerging professionals. These new works will be commissioned from an eclectic group of composers—25 men and 25 women—and the collection will represent the truly globe-spanning state of the art of the string quartet in the 21st century. Kronos will premiere each work and create companion materials, including recordings, videos, performance notes, and composer interviews. All Fifty for the Future project materials will be distributed online and made available at no charge. Composers for the first season are Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Ken Benshoof, Fodé Lassana Diabaté, Rhiannon Giddens, Yotam Haber, Garth Knox, Tanya Jay Blakesberg Tagaq, Merlijn Twaalfhoven, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Wu Man. As a central part of its Debs Creative Chair residency, Kronos Quartet—violinists David Harrington and John Sherba, violist Hank Dutt, and cellist Sunny Yang—lead a week-long workshop in April, presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute that culminates in a public performance in Zankel Hall. Open to student and young professional quartets to explore new works commissioned as part of the Fifty for the Future project, the workshop also focuses on several signature Kronos works. In addition, Kronos presents the world premiere of a Fifty for the Future commissioned work at its own Zankel Hall performance in April; this concert also includes premieres of music by Karin Rehnqvist and Fodé Lassana Diabaté. Jay Blakesberg

Kronos Quartet

For more than 40 years, the Kronos Quartet has combined a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to continually re-imagining the string quartet experience. In the process, Kronos has become one of the world’s most celebrated and infl uential ensembles, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 50 recordings, collaborating with many of the world’s most intriguing and accomplished composers and performers, and commissioning more than 850 works and arrangements for string quartet. A Grammy Award winner, Kronos is also the only recipient of both the Polar Music Prize and the Avery Fisher Prize. The non-profi t Kronos Performing Arts Association manages all aspects of Kronos’ work, including the commissioning of new works, concert tours and home–season performances, education programs, and extended residences around the world. The Kronos Quartet made its Carnegie Hall debut in 1980 and has since performed more than 30 times, curating a 2009–2010 Perspectives series and concerts frequently tied to the Hall’s festival, family, and educational programming. Kronos has appeared annually at the Hall since 2001, most recently celebrating its 40th anniversary in March 2014 with a Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage concert that featured longtime artistic partners and young artists. Since 1995, Carnegie Hall has appointed leading artists to be holders of its Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair. Composers who have previously had this distinction are Meredith Monk (2014–2015), David Lang (2013–2014), Osvaldo Golijov (2012–2013), Kaija Saariaho (2011–2012), Brad Mehldau (2010–2011), Louis Andriessen (2009–2010), Elliott Carter (2008–2009), Thomas Adès (2007–2008), John Adams (2003–2007), Pierre Boulez (1999–2003), and Ellen Taaff e Zwilich (1995–1999).

Saturday, April 2 at 7:30 PM | Zankel Saturday, April 9–Friday, April 15 Kronos Quartet Kronos Quartet with Special Guest Ritva Koistinen, Kantele Workshop for String Quartets KARIN REHNQVIST All Those Strings! (US Premiere) Kronos Quartet leads a weeklong workshop open to student and young FODÉ LASSANA DIABATÉ New Work (NY Premiere) professional string quartets to explore new works commissioned as part Plus the world premiere of a new work from of Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. The workshop, the Fifty for the Future project which culminates in a Zankel Hall concert, also focuses on several of signature Kronos works. Workshops and master classes are made possible, in part, by Mr. and Mrs. Nicola Bulgari and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.