On June 29, 2020, the Kronos Quartet celebrates the 30th anniversary of the release of Black Angels on Nonesuch Records. The album opens with the titular work by American composer George Crumb, which led violinist David Harrington to form Kronos 47 years ago, and continues with works by Thomas Tallis, Istvan Marta, Charles Ives, and Dmitri Shostakovich. “As a piece of music, George Crumb’s ‘Black Angels’ remains at the heart of Kronos. It seems as relevant today as it did in 1973,” says Harrington. “As an album, Black Angels set our course for the next 30 years and beyond.” Learn more about the work and the album in the short documentary below.

CREDITS

Video by Robert Edridge-Waks

Footage of Black Angels from 1994 Lied Center for Performing Arts at the University of Kansas performance, courtesy of Demolition Kitchen Video (public domain), and 2017 Uppsala Konsert & Kongress concert broadcast on Sveriges Television AB, courtesy of Anna&Paul & CO AB

Staged productions of Black Angels designed by Laurence Neff for Kronos Quartet

Kronos Quartet
David Harrington, violin
John Sherba, violin
Hank Dutt, viola
Sunny Yang, cello

Joan Jeanrenaud, cello (1978–1999)
Jeffrey Zeigler, cello (2005–2013)

Footage of A Thousand Thoughts – A live documentary with the Kronos Quartet, written and directed by Sam Green and Joe Bini, courtesy of Kronos Performing Arts Association

Photography by Catharine Ashmore, Sidney Chen, Lenny Gonzalez, and Blake Little

Special thank you to Nonesuch Records, Judith Sherman, and The Arts Center at New York University Abu Dhabi