
San Francisco's own Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet concludes its multi-year partnership with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on February 21 & 22 with Kronos: Listen Local, a program highlighting the vibrant creative voices of its hometown composers. Internationally renowned for scouting the world over for exceptional collaborators, Kronos turns its focus to its home turf for two world premieres, including And the Movement of the Tongue, a new work for string quartet and electronics by San Francisco's celebrated media artist Pamela Z, co-commissioned by YBCA and the Kronos Performing Arts Association; and String Quartet No. 3 'The Mezzanine', a new piece by Nathaniel Stookey, who at age 17 was the youngest composer ever commissioned for the San Francisco Symphony's New and Unusual Music Series. The program also features the West Coast premiere of "Carrying the Past" by Dan Becker, chair of the composition department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and works by other San Francisco musicians.
For nearly 40 years, the Kronos Quartet has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the string quartet. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential groups of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing over 45 recordings of extraordinary breadth, commissioning more than 750 new works, and collaborating with renowned artists of myriad disciplines.