KRONOS FESTIVAL 2017: Here and Now

Day 3 / “The Odyssey”
Kronos Quartet with Vân-Ánh Võ and The Living Earth Show

Joan Jeanrenaud / Knock **  World premiere

Orlando “Cholo” Valderrama (arr. Kevin Villalta) / Y Soy Llanero +

Tanya Tagaq (arr. Jacob Garchik) / Sivunittinni **

Sahba Aminikia / Pareeshan (Abstracted) *  World premiere

Sahba Aminikia / Sooge Sohrab
Performed by The Living Earth Show
Travis Andrews, electric guitar
Andy Meyerson, percussion

INTERMISSION

Jonathan Berger / My Lai Lullaby *
with special guest Vân-Ánh Võ
written in collaboration with David Harrington and Vân-Ánh Võ

Vân-Ánh Võ / The Odyssey – from Vietnam to America (excerpts)
with special guest Vân-Ánh Võ

About

KRONOS FESTIVAL 2017 closes out with Bay Area resident and masterful performer of Vietnamese traditional instruments Vân-Ánh Võ joining Kronos onstage to remount excerpts from her evening-length piece The Odyssey. In new arrangements, the powerful work explores the journeys of the Vietnamese “Boat People,” refugees who went to heroic lengths to escape the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Kronos and Võ will also perform “My Lai Lullaby,” an instrumental prelude written by Stanford University professor Jonathan Berger to his monodrama about helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson, one of the heroic US soldiers who tried to stop the My Lai massacre.

The concert will continue to spotlight festival artist in residence Sahba Aminikia with the world premiere by Kronos of an untitled new work inspired by the prominent Persian violinist Parviz Yahaghi, as well as a special solo performance by The Living Earth Show of “Sooge Sohrab,” a unique musical setting for electric guitar and percussion of the popular Persian myth of Sohrab and Rostam. From Ferdowsi’s 10th-century epic poem Shahnameh, the tragic story details how Rostam’s ignorance leads him to kill Sohrab, his own son.

The final evening’s program also includes “Starry Night,” from Aleksandra Vrebalov’s recent suite of music inspired by the Northern California community of The Sea Ranch, San Francisco Conservatory of Music graduate Kevin Villalta’s arrangement of the classic Colombian cowboy joropo “Y Soy Llanero,” and Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq’s new work for string quartet “Sivunittinni,” which she composed for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Launched in 2015, Kronos’ Fifty for the Future is an education program that is commissioning a free, open-access library of string quartets for the express purpose of guiding students and early-career professionals in developing and honing the skills required for the performance of 21st-century repertoire.

Reserved Seating / Robert N. Miner Auditorium
Tickets: $20 / $30 / $45 / $65 // Buy tickets >