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Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Jarvis Cocker, Bryce Dessner and Philip Glass to honour Kronos Quartet
By Aly Barchi | Published on Thursday 8 May 2014
On 13 May, the Barbican in London will host a night of anniversary celebrations in honour of US strings-masters Kronos Quartet, who just turned 40. The evening will see The National’s Bryce Dessner, composer Philip Glass, and Jarvis Cocker – all past Kronos collaborators – dedicate new commissions to the four-piece, and will feature the British premiere of Sam Green’s film ‘Kronos At 40’.
For his course, a multi-instrumental ‘dialogue’ titled ‘Kerf’, Cocker will play the organ alongside the Quartet, and David Coulter on the saw. Because ‘kerf’ is the word for the width of a cut produced by a saw blade. Obviously.
Jarvis bills the piece as “partly an exploration of how wide you can make the gap between ‘versions’ of the same note before they cease to sound like the same note at all”, adding: “I am incredibly honoured to have been asked to contribute to this celebration of the 40 year long existence of the Kronos Quartet. Happy Birthday!”
Happy birthday, indeed. As for Bryce Dessner, he’ll join Kronos on stage for the world’s first performance of his ’40 Canons’ suite. Glass, meanwhile, will premiere his ‘String Quartet No 6’.
Go here to get all the details and tickets.
