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| Kronos Performing Arts Association | |
|---|---|
| Name | Kronos Performing Arts Association |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Location | San Francisco, California |
| Genre | Contemporary classical music, chamber music, world music |
Kronos Performing Arts Association is a contemporary music ensemble and non-profit arts organization based in San Francisco, California, known for commissioning new works and championing diverse composers and performers. The ensemble has collaborated with a wide range of artists and institutions across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, influencing contemporary classical programming and cultural exchange. Its activities span performance, recording, commissioning, education, and outreach, connecting with orchestras, festivals, academic institutions, cultural centers, and media organizations.
Kronos traces its origins to the early 1970s with roots in the Bay Area music scene involving figures from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State University, Stanford University, California Institute of the Arts, Columbia University, Juilliard School, and New England Conservatory. Early influences included ensembles and movements associated with Music from Copland House, Bang on a Can, Tzadik, ECM Records, Nonesuch Records, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, Warner Classics, and festivals such as Tanglewood Music Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Donaueschingen Festival, Lucerne Festival, and Austrian Cultural Forum. The ensemble developed relationships with composers connected to San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, and institutions like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Sydney Opera House, Southbank Centre, Wembley Stadium, and Avery Fisher Hall. Over decades Kronos commissioned works from composers linked to Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams, Terry Riley, Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki, Iannis Xenakis, Krzysztof Penderecki, György Ligeti, Morton Feldman, Elliott Carter, George Crumb, Alfred Schnittke, Dmitri Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, Benjamin Britten, and Dmitry Shostakovich-era legacies through festival presentations and recordings.
The association operates as a non-profit entity with a board and administrative staff engaging with organizations such as National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, McArthur Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Gerbode Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, and corporate partners like Google Arts & Culture, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, PBS, and NPR. Governance practices reflect standards used by institutions including American Composers Forum, League of American Orchestras, International Society for Contemporary Music, Association of Performing Arts Professionals, Franco-American Cultural Exchange, Asia Society, British Council, Goethe-Institut, Instituto Cervantes, and Alliance Française. The staff liaises with artist management agencies such as IMG Artists, Opus 3 Artists, Columbia Artist Management, HarrisonParrott, Gordon Getty Foundation, and legal counsel with expertise in arts law tied to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SoundExchange, and Music Publishers Association.
Kronos is known for a flexible roster performing chamber and cross-genre works alongside collaborations with ensembles and artists from Kronos associates withheld by instruction, partnering with groups including San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, San Francisco Opera, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Pacific MusicWorks, Philharmonia Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Ensemble InterContemporain, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Massey Hall-affiliated groups, and artists associated with Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Renée Fleming, Kronos collaborators withheld by instruction. Programmatic series draw on repertory connected to composers and performers from African Drum Ensemble traditions, Indian classical gharana traditions, Carnatic music institutions, Gamelan ensembles, Klezmer groups, and contemporary practitioners associated with Anoushka Shankar, Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Zakir Hussain, Fela Kuti, Hugh Masekela, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Toumani Diabaté, Hossam Ramzy, and Oumou Sangaré-linked circuits. The ensemble's commissioning and residency programs engage artists with ties to MacArthur Fellows Program, Pulitzer Prize for Music, Grammy Awards, Laurence Olivier Awards, and major academic appointments at Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, University of Michigan, New York University, Columbia University, Royal College of Music, Conservatoire de Paris, and Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler.
Educational initiatives coordinate with schools and institutions such as San Francisco Unified School District, Oakland Unified School District, Los Angeles Unified School District, New York City Department of Education, Teach For America, AmeriCorps, City Arts & Lectures, Young Audiences Arts for Learning, Karsh STEM Academy, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Museum of Modern Art, Asian Art Museum, de Young Museum, Museum of African Diaspora, SFJAZZ Center, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and university outreach programs at San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley, Stanford Jazz Workshop, California College of the Arts, Mills College. Workshops and masterclasses have involved visitors from Royal Academy of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Berklee College of Music, Shepherd School of Music, and partnerships with youth orchestras such as San Francisco Youth Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of the USA, European Union Youth Orchestra, Sistema USA, Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, and community ensembles in collaboration with Presidio Trust and municipal arts offices like San Francisco Arts Commission.
Discography and recordings have been released on labels including Nonesuch Records, Deutsche Grammophon, ECM Records, Sony Classical, Innova Recordings, Tzadik, William Basinski-linked experimental labels, and distributed through platforms like Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, and SoundCloud. Major performances occurred at venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Lincoln Center, Southbank Centre, La Scala, Teatro Colón, Moscow Conservatory, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Polish National Radio Symphony Hall, Aarhus Festuge, Festival Internacional Cervantino, BBC Proms, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Sibelius Academy events and tours with orchestras including San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and collaborative appearances with artists affiliated with David Bowie, Tracy Chapman, Patti Smith, Björk, Iggy Pop, Brian Eno, Lauryn Hill, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé in interdisciplinary projects.
The association and its collaborators have received honors and recognition linked to awards such as the Pulitzer Prize for Music, Grammy Awards, MacArthur Fellows Program, Guggenheim Fellowship, National Medal of Arts, Kennedy Center Honors, Laurence Olivier Award, Polar Music Prize, European Composer Award, Premio Abbiati, Helpmann Awards, and grants from foundations including Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation of New York. Institutional partnerships and commendations have been acknowledged by municipal proclamations from City and County of San Francisco, cultural exchange recognition from US Department of State, and programmatic distinctions with Carnegie Corporation-supported initiatives.
Category:Music organizations based in California