SETTING THE SCENE

"The Sherbas need some duets"


When John Sherba was 16 years old, this phrase was heard often in the composition department of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, where he and his brother had established themselves as an ensemble in need of new music. At the same age, growing up in the 1960s and connecting with the immediacy of Bartók and Stravinsky, David Harrington began working with composer Ken Benshoof, who not only had a classical training but "was connected to American music, writing with elements of folk music and rhythms you would hear on the radio." In Quincy, Illinois, Hank Dutt put down the violin and picked up his high school's newest instrument acquisition, a viola, which eventually earned him a scholarship to Indiana University and a place in new music performances. And in Memphis, the 16-year-old Joan Jeanrenaud joined the union at the urging of a composer friend before she went on to study jazz, composition, and cello at Indiana.

In addition to hands-on experience with composers, they grew up with a love for small ensemble performance. When the opportunity to work in a quartet came their way, about five years after Harrington founded the group, they jumped:

"When I got the call to fly out to San Francisco and audition with Debussy and Bartók No. 4—which I didn't know—my teacher Leonard Sorkin was supportive as always, but said, 'Well, good luck.' I had a great time at the audition—even though I didn't know a lot of the music, it felt natural."—John Sherba

"I had just spent a year studying with Pierre Fournier in Switzerland, and I was thinking, 'You know, it's time for me to go into the real world and get a job.' At best I thought I might play in a chamber orchestra—I didn't dare hope I could be in a quartet. But when Hank called me to fly to San Francisco, I trusted it immediately."—Joan Jeanrenaud

"Once the four of us sat down, it was pretty clear that this was it. There was a wonderful respect, seemingly without ego…we could talk to each other."—Hank Dutt

For his part, Harrington says: "The music that has attracted me most, since I was 12 years old, is quartet music. It's this elemental experience of playing with other people. For me the violin is something that I wouldn't do if I wasn't playing in Kronos."

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