Kronos Quartet is a string quartet formed by violinist David Harrington in 1973. It is based in Seattle, United States, and works as a contemporary classical group with strong links to classical, instrumental, minimalism, modern classical and post-minimalism.

Line-up

The quartet’s members include David Harrington, John Sherba, Hank Dutt, Joan Jeanrenaud, Jennifer Culp, Jeffrey Zeigler, Sunny Yang, Paul Wiancko, Gabriela Díaz, Ayane Kozasa, Tim Kilian, Walter Gray, Roy Lewis, Ella Marie Gray and James Shallenberger.

The longest-running line-up, from 1978 to 1999, features Harrington and Sherba on violin, Dutt on viola and Jeanrenaud on cello. Jeanrenaud is later replaced by Jennifer Culp in 1999, Culp is replaced by Jeffrey Zeigler in 2005, Zeigler by Sunny Yang in 2013, and Yang by Paul Wiancko in 2023.

Repertoire and collaborations

Kronos Quartet focuses on new music and has commissioned more than 850 works. Its repertoire extends across Mexican folk, experimental music, pre-classical early music, film soundtracks, jazz and tango, and it records adaptations of pieces including “Purple Haze”, “Flugufrelsarinn”, “Marquee Moon” and “Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals”.

The group works with composers including Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Kevin Volans, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh and Osvaldo Golijov. Golijov contributes compositions and arrangements to Kronos releases such as Caravan and Nuevo.

Collaborations beyond classical music

The quartet also collaborates with artists from outside the classical field, including Asha Bhosle, Dawn Upshaw, Cafe Tacuba and Taraf de Haidouks. It appears live with Allen Ginsberg, Modern Jazz Quartet, David Bowie and Björk, and records with Dave Matthews, Nelly Furtado, Rokia Traoré, Joan Armatrading and Don Walser.

Label

Kronos Quartet releases music on Nonesuch Records Inc.