by Mike Telin

For nearly forty years, the Kronos Quartet — David Harrington and John Sherba violins, Hank Dutt, viola and Jeffrey Zeigler, cello — have been a potent force in the advancement of contemporary classical music. On Friday, January 18 beginning at 7:30 this celebrated quartet returns to Cleveland for a concert on the VIVA! & Gala series in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium.

In the words of David Harrington, “I’ve always wanted the string quartet to be vital, and energetic, and alive, and cool, and not afraid to kick ass and be absolutely beautiful and ugly if it has to be. But it has to be expressive of life. To tell the story with grace and humor and depth. And to tell the whole story, if possible.” Now, with over 750 works written for Kronos Quartet by an impressive list of composers, how does a quartet with so many repertoire possibilities go about programming a concert?  [Read more…]