These are heady times for Kronos Quartet, celebrating its 40th anniversary this season. As you may know, today, April 8, Nonesuch is releasing the Kronos Explorer Series box set and a new CD, A Thousand Thoughts. Both releases spotlight the quartet's longstanding engagement with musical traditions from around the globe.
The Explorer Series set comprises five of the group's best-loved discs, each representing a different geographical region: Pieces of Africa, Night Prayers, Caravan, Nuevo, and Floodplain. A Thousand Thoughts features fifteen recordings - ten previously unreleased - with music and performers from fourteen countries across five continents, and includes the group's first tracks with its newest member, cellist Sunny Yang.
Looking ahead, the group plays Katowice, Poland (5/2), Paris (5/5), Stockholm (5/9), Cork (5/11), and four concerts in London (5/13 - 18). You'll find info on those events and much more at www.kronosquartet.org. Also notable: the premiere of Programma V, a collaboration between Philip Glass, Kronos, and Nederlands Dans Theater at the Holland Festival, June 7 - 9.
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