Kronos Quartet returns with the newest edition of its 50 for the Future project. With 40 compositions commissioned, premiered, and shared to date, the ongoing multiyear project features new works by an international and diverse group of composers, made available online with the goal of training students and emerging professionals in contemporary approaches to string quartet music. This concert features new works by Terry Riley and Cal Performances’ 2021–22 artist-in-residence, Angélique Kidjo. For the second half of this concert, Kronos is joined by Mahsa Vahdat, a prominent performer of Persian vocal music, who collaborated with the quartet on the 2019 recording Placeless. The project features melodies Vahdat composed to classical poems by Hafez and Rumi, as well as contemporary texts by Iranian poets.
This performance is part of Cal Performances’ Illuminations: “Place and Displacement” series.
