UCSB Arts & Lectures will present Kronos Quartet, 6 p.m. Saturday, May 2 at UCSB Campbell Hall. The evening with the trailblazing Kronos Quartet features “Three Bones,”a program exploring the layered histories of Indigenous, Gullah-Geechee and Chinese American communities.
Electric Apache violinist Laura Ortman; Grammy-winning percussionist Quentin E. Baxter; and pipa virtuoso Wu Man join Kronos in Three Bones, a three-part, multisensory experience weaving together music, memory and cultural resilience.
“New works by Charlton Singleton and Dai Wei underscore the ensemble’s legacy of fearless innovation and social engagement in this project marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” organizers said.
“Three Bones” is the West Coast Premiere of an Arts & Lectures co-commission.
Kronos Quartet members are David Harrington, violin; Gabriela Díaz, violin; Ayane Kozasa, viola; and Paul Wiancko, cello.
Guest artists are Quentin E. Baxter, percussion; Laura Ortman, Apache violin, amplified violin; and Wu Man, pipa.
Tickets to Kronos are $28-$58 general public; $15 for UCSB students with current student ID.
For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 805-893-3535 or buy online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.
For 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet has challenged and reimagined what a string quartet can be, according to Arts & Lectures.
Founded at a time when the form was largely centered on long-established, Western European traditions, Kronos has been at the forefront of revolutionizing the string quartet into a living art form that responds to the people and issues of our time.
Kronos has performed thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 70 recordings and collaborated with many of the world’s most accomplished composers and performers.
Through its nonprofit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA), the group has commissioned more than 1,100 works and arrangements for string quartet, including the recently completed 50 for the Future library of free, educational repertoire.
Kronos has received some 40 awards, including three Grammy Awards and the Polar Music, Avery Fisher and Edison Klassiek Oeuvre prizes – among the most prestigious awards given to musicians.
In 2024, the Library of Congress announced its acquisition of the Archive of Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association, a collection that includes 50 years’ worth of manuscripts, instruments, costumes, video and audio recordings, photographs and more.
Together, these materials constitute a record of Kronos/KPAA’s genesis, growth and legacy, and will now be permanently housed in the Library’s Music Division alongside the storied histories of influential artists and composers from around the world.