WOMEX – the World Music Expo – announced today that Kronos Quartet will receive the 2018 WOMEX Artist Award at the annual event, which is being held this year in the Canary Islands, October 24–28. Kronos is honored and proud to be recognized by such an energizing and galvanizing force in the world of music.

“That Kronos is now included in the amazing roster of awardees is both humbling and a huge challenge as we chart our future musical routes and adventures” said David Harrington, Kronos’ artistic director, founder and violinist, “We celebrate our membership in the global community of musicians every day as we attempt, with every note we play, to offer paths forward reflecting the inspiring possibilities shown us by our incredible composers and collaborators. The fabric of future music needs all the strength, vitality and broad vision we can muster. The WOMEX Artist Award propels us into the future, and we are very grateful.”

Previous Artist Award winners include Calypso Rose (Trinidad & Tobago), Oumou Sangaré (Mali), Mariza (Portugal), Hugh Masekela (South Africa) and Los Van Van (Cuba). Full list >

Today, we released the scores and parts, recordings and other learning materials for the next five Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire string quartets, composed by Islam Chipsy, Aftab Darvishi, Philip Glass, Onutė Narbutaitė and Yevgeniy Sharlat. This marks the halfway point of the five-year project with 25 pieces released! Download the scores and parts and explore more materials here, and listen to the five new works below: