Kronos Quartet Releases New FIFTY FOR THE FUTURE Pieces

This month, Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association releases the latest additions to Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire, a string quartet commissioning, performance, education, and legacy project of unprecedented scope and potential impact.

Five new pieces - by Alexandra du Bois, Tod Machover, Missy Mazzoli, Misato Mochizuki, and Charlton Singleton - join 35 existing Fifty for the Future works for young players by composers such as Laurie Anderson, Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, Rhiannon Giddens, Philip Glass, Zakir Hussain, Susie Ibarra, Tanya Tagaq, Henry Threadgill, and Wu Man, among others.

Launched in the 2015/16 season, Fifty for the Future is commissioning 50 new works -by 25 women and 25 men - designed to help young players develop and hone the skills required to perform 21st-century string quartet repertoire. In addition to premiering each piece, Kronos has created companion digital materials, including scores and parts, performance notes, recordings, and video interviews, that can be accessed for free at 50ftf.kronosquartet.org. This unique online library can be searched by composer, character, tonality, tempo, technique, instrumentation, and type of notation, offering rich opportunities for exploration.

The program has proven a notable success: since launching in January 2015, Fifty for the Future scores have been downloaded nearly 20,000 times by musicians in 100+ countries and territories around the globe. The final ten Fifty for the Future pieces are scheduled to be released in the 2021/22 season.

Characteristically, the five composers in the latest release span a wide range of musical backgrounds and approaches. They are united by a commitment to create works that will expand players' horizons, not only technically, but artistically.