Kronos: Listen Local - Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMedia Contact: Maureen Dixon,415.321.1307; mdixon@ybca.orgYerba Buena Center for the Arts and Kronos Performing Arts Association presentKronos: Listen LocalKronos Quartet Celebrates San Francisco with Music byFour San Francisco-based Composers:World Premiere: And the Movement of the Tongue by Pamela ZWorld Premiere: String Quartet No. 3, The Mezzanine by Nathaniel StookeyWest Coast Premiere: Carrying the Past by Dan BeckerPlus selected arrangements by Stephen PrutsmanKronos Quartet, photo: Michael WilsonThursday-Friday, February 21-22, 2013, 8 p.m., Lam Research Theater at YBCAConcert conversation with the composers on Friday, February 21, 2013, 7-7:30 p.m.1

Kronos: Listen Local at YBCA, February 21-22, 2013Advance tickets: $25-30 regular/$20-25 students, seniors, teachersAt the door: $30-35 regular/$25-30 students, seniors, teachers$20-25 YBCA Members; FREE for YBCA:YouLam Research Theater at YBCA, 700 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103Tickets and Information: www.ybca.org, 415.978.2787SAN FRANCISCO (January 29, 2013) – San Francisco’s own Grammy Award-winning KronosQuartet concludes its multi-year partnership with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Thursdayand Friday, February 21–22, with Kronos: Listen Local, a program highlighting the vibrantcreative voices of its hometown composers. Internationally renowned for innovativecollaborations spanning dozens of countries and cultures, Kronos turns its focus to its home turffor two world premieres, including And the Movement of the Tongue, a new work for stringquartet and electronics by San Francisco’s celebrated media artist Pamela Z, co-commissionedby YBCA and the Kronos Performing Arts Association; and the Nicholson Baker–inspired StringQuartet No. 3, The Mezzanine by Nathaniel Stookey, who at age 17 was the youngestcomposer ever commissioned for the San Francisco Symphony’s New and Unusual MusicSeries. The program also features the West Coast premiere of Carrying the Past by DanBecker, Chair of the Composition Department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, andfour works arranged by longtime Kronos collaborator Stephen Prutsman.“I’m so excited about these concerts, because San Francisco is a huge part of Kronos’ identity,”said Kronos founder and artistic director David Harrington. “If you look at all of the cultures andtraditions around the world that we've explored in our music, you're really holding up a mirror toSan Francisco's own incredibly diverse culture. And the audience will definitely experience thisamazing breadth in the music of these San Francisco composers. Here, 'Listen Local' reallymeans 'Listen Global.'"ABOUT THE COMPOSERSPamela Z, based in San Francisco since 1984, is a composer/performerand media artist who works primarily with voice, live electronicprocessing, sampling technology and video. Her large-scale multi-mediaworks have been presented at venues including Z Space and ODC in SanFrancisco and The Kitchen in New York, and her media works have beenpresented in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum (NY), theDiözesanmuseum (Cologne), and the Krannert Art Museum (Illinois). Andthe Movement of the Tongue, co-commissioned by Kronos PerformingArts Association and YBCA, is a work about speaking accents—specifically accented English that starts as an exploration of the profusionof broad-ranging accents that abound in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Ihave always had a fascination with language and speech, and have mademany works that use the sound of the human voice as both an inspirationand a primary source for the actual generation of the music,” saysPamela Z. To create this piece, she conducted and recorded interviews with a number of BayArea residents who speak English with a variety of either regional, foreign language, or culturalaccents, creating hundreds of audio clips, which were used to construct the text collage thatbecame an armature for the work.

Kronos: Listen Local at YBCA, February 21-22, 2013San Francisco native Nathaniel Stookey has worked with many of theworld’s great orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, TheCleveland Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony, the Los AngelesPhilharmonic, and Manchester’s venerable Hallé Orchestra, where he wascomposer-in-residence under Kent Nagano. Stookey’s The Composer isDead, a collaboration with Bay Area author Lemony Snicket (DanielHandler), is one of the five most performed classical works of the 21 stcentury, worldwide. About his Third String Quartet, titled “The Mezzanine”after the debut novel by another onetime Bay Area author, NicholsonBaker, Stookey says: "We composers often go to great lengths todiscourage our audience from looking for connections between our musicand the titles we give it. In the case of my third quartet, the music really isabout escalators, drinking straws, shoelaces, vending machines andcigarette butts...I would like to thank Nicholson Baker for forever changing my world view, andDavid Harrington for forever changing the string quartet.”Dan Becker composes music (current commissions include a collaborative dance work withGarrett+Moulton Productions), studies music (he received his DMA fromYale), teaches music (he chairs the Composition Department at the SanFrancisco Conservatory of Music), organizes music (as founder of theCommon Sense Composers' Collective), and advocates for new music(he has served on the boards of such organizations as the AmericanMusic Center.) About Carrying the Past, Becker says, "In the 1990s myfamily discovered some long lost 78 rpm recordings of my grandfather,Eddie Sandson, who played lead trumpet in some of the big bands inthe early 1920s. Fascinated and haunted by this music for years now,my new work for the Kronos Quartet is the latest exploration of therelationship between my own musical sensibilities and the witty andsweetly guileless music that I rediscovered through my grandfather'srecordings.”Stephen Prutsman, born in Los Angeles and a San Francisco resident for two decades, moveseasily from classical to jazz to world music as pianist, composer, conductor and curator,continuing to explore and seek common ground in music of all culturesand languages. He was a medal winner at the Tchaikovsky and QueenElisabeth piano competitions, and has performed as soloist with manyof the world’s leading orchestras on international concert stages. From2004 to 2007 Prutsman was Artistic Partner with the St. Paul ChamberOrchestra where he led concertos from the keyboard, conducted worksof living composers, arranged music for world music collaborations, andcomposed several new works for the orchestra. As a composer,Prutsman’s long collaboration with Kronos has resulted in over 40arrangements and compositions for the quartet. He’s worked on a widevariety of pieces with Kronos, ranging from the Bollywood, Ethiopianand Lebanese pieces in Kronos: Listen Local, to his arrangement ofAfghan rubab virtuoso Homayun Sakhi’s Rainbow, which premiered atYBCA in 2008.Kronos/YBCA CollaborationThe Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association and Yerba Buena Center for the Artsentered into a multi-year partnership in the fall of 2010 in which YBCA would be Kronos'

Kronos: Listen Local at YBCA, February 21-22, 2013exclusive San Francisco home for concerts and experimentation for three seasons. Kronos andYBCA have co-produced performance programs each season, and have co-commissionedthree new works so far. In the 2010–2011 season, Kronos presented the program Black Angels,which included the world premiere of Sahba Aminikia’s String Quartet no. 3, A Threnody forThose Who Remain, commissioned for Kronos through this partnership. This was followed by AChinese Home with guest performer Wu Man. In addition to Women’s Voices, featuring guestvocalist Tanya Tagaq and the world premiere of the newest commission, Vân-Ánh VanessaVõ’s All Clear, Kronos also performed another commission in YBCA’s 2011–2012 season,Fragile with Eiko & Koma."Kronos has been thrilled with the three-year partnership with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.We are inspired by the Center's programs and artistic vision, and we feel a great synergy in ourmutual commitment to the creation and performance of new work. We’ve been excited by theopportunity to deepen our relationship with YBCA and its audiences. Kronos has always lovedperforming at YBCA, and have enjoyed planning very special programs and performances inour hometown." — David Harrington, Artistic Director, Kronos Quartet.“The Kronos Quartet is one of the world’s leading string quartets, pushing the boundaries ofcontemporary music and constantly reinventing themselves through their explorations withartistic partners. YBCA has been honored to partner with the Kronos Quartet—an organizationthat shares our vision and commitment to innovation—which delights music fans with new worksand experimentations and will for several years to come.” — Kenneth J. Foster, ExecutiveDirector, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.About Kronos QuartetFor nearly 40 years, San Francisco's Kronos Quartet—David Harrington, John Sherba (violins),Hank Dutt (viola), and Jeffrey Zeigler (cello)—has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining aspirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the stringquartet. In the process, the Grammy-winning Kronos has become one of the most celebratedand influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasingmore than 45 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of theworld’s most eclectic composers and performers, and commissioning more than 750 new worksand arrangements for string quartet. In 2011, Kronos became the only recipients of both thePolar Music Prize and the Avery Fisher Prize, two of the most prestigious awards given tomusicians.Since 1973, Kronos has built a compellingly eclectic repertoire for string quartet, performing andrecording works by 20th-century masters (Bartók, Shostakovich, Webern), contemporarycomposers (Aleksandra Vrebalov, John Adams, Alfred Schnittke), jazz legends (OrnetteColeman, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk), and artists from even farther afield (rock guitarlegend Jimi Hendrix, Azeri vocalist Alim Qasimov, interdisciplinary composer/performer MeredithMonk).Integral to Kronos' work is a series of long-running, in-depth collaborations with many of theworld's foremost composers. Kronos has worked extensively with composers such as "Father ofMinimalism" Terry Riley, whose work with Kronos includes Salome Dances for Peace, themultimedia production Sun Rings, and 2005's The Cusp of Magic; Philip Glass, recording hisstring quartets and scores to films like Mishima and Dracula; Azerbaijan’s Franghiz Ali-Zadeh,featured on the 2005 release Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh; Steve Reich, whoseKronos-recorded Different Trains earned the composer a Grammy; Argentina's Osvaldo Golijov,whose work with Kronos includes both compositions and extensive arrangements for albumslike Kronos Caravan and Nuevo; and many more.

Kronos: Listen Local at YBCA, February 21-22, 2013In addition to composers, Kronos counts numerous artists from around the world among itsregular collaborators, including Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man; the legendary Bollywood"playback singer" Asha Bhosle; Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq; Mexican rockers Café Tacuba;the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks; and the renowned American soprano DawnUpshaw. Kronos has performed live with the likes of icons Allen Ginsberg, Zakir Hussain,Modern Jazz Quartet, Noam Chomsky, Rokia Traoré, Tom Waits, Howard Zinn, Betty Carter,and David Bowie, and has appeared on recordings by such diverse talents as Nine Inch Nails,Amon Tobin, Dan Zanes, DJ Spooky, Dave Matthews, Nelly Furtado, Joan Armatrading, andDon Walser.A non-profit organization, the Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association is committedto mentoring emerging musicians and composers, and to creating, performing, and recordingnew works. The quartet spends five months of each year on tour, appearing in concert halls,clubs, and festivals around the world including BAM Next Wave Festival, Carnegie Hall, theBarbican in London, WOMAD, UCLA's Royce Hall, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, ShanghaiConcert Hall, and the Sydney Opera House. Kronos is equally prolific and wide-ranging onrecordings. The ensemble's expansive discography on Nonesuch Records includes collectionssuch as Pieces of Africa (1992), a showcase of African-born composers, which simultaneouslytopped Billboard's Classical and World Music lists; 1998's ten-disc anthology, Kronos Quartet:25 Years; Nuevo (2002), a Grammy- and Latin Grammy-nominated celebration of Mexicanculture; the 2003 Grammy-winner, Alban Berg's Lyric Suite; and Floodplain (2009), spotlightingmusic from regions of the world riven by conflict. www.kronosquartet.orgAbout Yerba Buena Center for the ArtsYerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), located in San Francisco's Yerba Buena culturaldistrict, is one of the nation's leading multidisciplinary contemporary arts centers. With a beliefthat contemporary art is at the heart of community life, YBCA brings audiences and artists of allbackgrounds together to express and experience creativity. The organization is known fornurturing emerging artists at the forefront of their fields and presenting works that blend artforms and explore the events and ideas of our time. As part of its commitment to the SanFrancisco Bay Area, YBCA supports the local arts community and reflects the region's diversityof people and thought through its arts and public programming.YBCA programs around four Big Ideas to organize its wide-ranging programs and provide acontext with which to engage the art. The Big Ideas are: ENCOUNTER: Engaging the socialcontext; SOAR: The search for meaning; REFLECT: Considering the personal; and DARE:Innovations in art, action, audience. These ideas, which encompass art from all disciplines, aredesigned to focus an investigation of contemporary art and its relationship to the largerworld. Using the Big Ideas as portals, YBCA has established a framework of thought that invitesexploration and risk-taking, quiet reflection and active engagement.Performing arts, visual arts and film/video programs are curated thematically around Big Ideaswhich illustrate the connections and associations between the works. Public programs and BigIdea Nights, YBCA's popular free open house series, are dedicated to establishing a deeperunderstanding and appreciation of contemporary art. YBCA presents programming year-roundin the Forum, Screening Room, Galleries and the Lam Research Theater (formerly the NovellusTheater). For tickets and information, call 415.978.ARTS (2787) or visit www.ybca.org.Kronos: Listen Local Program:Dan Becker/Carrying the Past – West Coast premiereNathaniel Stookey/String Quartet No. 3, The Mezzanine – World premiereRahul Dev Burman (arr. Stephen Prustman/Kronos)/Mehbooba Mehbooba (Beloved, OBeloved)

Kronos: Listen Local at YBCA, February 21-22, 2013Tanburi Cemil Bey (arr. Stephen Prustman)/Evic TaksimTraditional (arr. Stephen Prustman)/Wa Habibi (O My Beloved)Gétatchèw Mèkurya (arr. Stephen Prutsman)/Aha gèdawoPamela Z/And the Movement of the Tongue – World premierePre-Concert Conversation Moderated by Sarah CahillThursday, February 21, 2013, 7-7:30 p.m.Lam Research Theater at YBCAComposers Pamela Z, Nathaniel Stookey, Dan Becker and Stephen Prutsman will speak abouttheir work with pianist, writer and radio producer Sarah Cahill who will moderate the discussion.Sarah Cahill’s radio show, Then & Now, can be heard every Sunday evening from 8 to 10 p.m.on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatoryand curates a monthly series of new music concerts at the Berkeley Art Museum.FundingYBCA's programs are made possible in part by Abundance Foundation, Adobe, KoretFoundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Lam Research.Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is grateful to the City of San Francisco for its ongoing support.YBCA Performance 2012-13 is made possible in part by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation,Salesforce, and The William and Flora Hewlett FoundationKronos' San Francisco Home Season is supported in part by Grants for the Arts/San FranciscoHotel Tax Fund and The Bernard Osher Foundation.Dan Becker’s Carrying the Past was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by the Phyllis C.Wattis Foundation.Nathaniel Stookey's String Quartet no. 3, "The Mezzanine," was commissioned for the KronosQuartet by the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation with additional support from the PhyllisC. Wattis Foundation.Stephen Prutsman's arrangement of Evic Taksim was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet byAngel and Priscilla Stoyanof.Stephen Prutsman's arrangement of Wa Habibi was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet bySimon Collier.Stephen Prutsman’s arrangement of Gétatchèw Mèkurya’s Aha gèdawo was commissioned forthe Kronos Quartet by Judithe Bizot.Pamela Z’s “And the Movement of the Tongue” was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet bythe Creative Work Fund, a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund supported by generousgrants from ArtPlace, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and The James IrvineFoundation. Additional commissioning support was provided by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundationand Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.Media Sponsor: KQED# # #