Kronos Quartet host contemporary classical and world music festival in Glasgow this May

Posted: Monday 18 April 2011

12th – 15th May 2011
Glasgow’s Concert Halls and Hamilton Mausoleum

Featuring Kronos Quartet, Matmos, Wu Man, Alim Qasimov Ensemble, Ritva Koistinen, Tanya Tagaq,  Dr Craig Woodson and more

  • Four-day mini-festival across Glasgow featuring the world renowned Kronos Quartet and an array of international special guest collaborators, hand-picked by the group
  • Scottish premiere (and one of the first ever performances) of Steve Reich’s WTC 9/11 ­– written especially for the Quartet
  • World exclusive – Kronos explore the astonishing acoustics of Hamilton Mausoleum, which has one of the longest lasting echoes in any man-made structure in the world
  • The Quartet will also perform works by Terry Riley, Michael Gordon and Derek Charke
  • Kronos swap their strings for a specially constructed barbed wire fence to perform Jon Rose’s fascinating Music for 4 Fences

This May, the world renowned Kronos Quartet will host a four-day mini-festival of contemporary, minimalist and world music in Glasgow. The ensemble are at the cutting edge of the global contemporary music scene, and between 12th – 15th May they will appear with an international line-up of special guest collaborators in a long weekend of events across the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, City Halls and Old Fruitmarket, with a world exclusive recital at Hamilton Mausoleum. Kronos are renowned for their collaborations, having performed with the likes of David Bowie, Tom Waits and Allen Ginsberg in the past, and have hand-picked the special guest artists for this weekend.

The Quartet have worked with major minimalist composers, and will give the Scottish premiere of Steve Reich’s brand new work WTC 9/11 in the weekend’s opening concert (following its European premiere as part of the Barbican’s Reverberations weekend on May 7). The piece was written especially for the Quartet, and in a major coup for Glasgow, this will be one of its first ever performances. WTC 9/11 is Reich’s harrowing response to the events of September 11, nearly a decade later. Like the composer’s Different Trains, which includes the voices of Holocaust survivors, WTC 9/11 interweaves sampled speech fragments with a trio of string quartets, two pre-recorded and one live, incorporating the pre-recorded voices of NORAD air traffic controllers, New York City firefighters, and survivors of the 9/11 attacks.

Kronos will also perform Terry Riley’s Another Secret eQuation and The Cusp of Magic, Michael Gordon’s Exalted and Jon Rose’s extraordinary Music from 4 Fences, for which they swap their strings for a specially constructed barbed wire fence, over throughout the weekend. The performance will be accompanied by visual design by Willie Williams, U2’s long-time tour set designer.

Other highlights include the legendary Baltimore-based experimental electronic sound collage duo Matmos, aka M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel, performing a late night show in the Old Fruitmarket. Matmos are renowned for their innovative and peculiar electronic sound assemblages, featuring everything from the sound of amplified crayfish nerve tissue to water hitting copper plates to dogs barking.

In a spectacular world music triple bill in Glasgow’s atmospheric Old Fruitmarket, the Quartet appear alongside an international line-up of musicians to celebrate the musical traditions of each collaborator’s homeland. Special guests include the Finnish musician Ritva Koistinen, one of the leading players of the kantele, the Azerbaijani musician and Mugham singer Alim Qasimov and his ensemble and the Inuit throat singer, Tanya Tagaq, who joins the Quartet for a performance of Tundra Songs, Derek Charke’s mesmerizing Arctic soundscape. The internationally renowned pipa (Chinese lute) player Wu Man – who has worked with everyone from Yo-Yo Ma to Cho-liang Lin – appears in the closing concert, performing Riley’s The Cusp of Magic with the Quartet.  

The weekend launches with a very special, world exclusive event in the remarkable Roman-style domed Hamilton Mausoleum. The mausoleum’s high stone vault gives the building one the longest lasting echoes in any man-made structure in the world, and Kronos and some of their collaborators will explore the astonishing acoustic and reverb time of this atmospheric venue with a series of short sets.

Other collaborators over the weekend include the Scottish folk duo Chris Stout and Catriona McKay, the National Youth Choir of Scotland and the leading American percussionist and music educator Dr. Craig Woodson, who will take families on a musical journey around the world with a spectacular day of fun family activities at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

Woodson’s family concerts combine sheer entertainment and interactive learning, and alongside the Kronos Quartet he has introduced thousands of children across the globe to the joys of music-making. In this very special event, Woodson will teach the audience how to make their very own Drumpet (his own invention – a cross between a drum and a trumpet). He’ll then lead the audience in a mass participation performance with the Kronos Quartet, giving families the rare chance to perform with this ground-breaking and internationally acclaimed ensemble.

Before and after the performance, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall will present a packed front-of-house programme filled with activities for kids. There will be fun music-making galore, with dhol drummers, a magical Russian puppet show, a drumpet parade and more.

The Kronos Quartet’s visit to UK also will also include a performance as part of the Barbican’s celebration of Steve Reich, Reverberations, as well as a concert at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival.

Tickets are available from 0141 353 8000 or online at www.glasgowconcerthalls.com

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