Kronos Quartet

The Kronos Quartet announced today that cellist Jeffrey Zeigler has joined the group. Zeigler, who has been performing with Kronos as guest cellist this summer, has already appeared with the group in Chicago, Seattle, Aspen, Dobbiaco (Italy), Molde (Norway), and several other cities.

"I am thrilled to be a part of Kronos," said Zeigler. "Playing quartets, and especially new music, is what I have always wanted to do. To have the chance to tour the world with Kronos and to work with so many great composers and musicians is a dream come true.” Zeigler, who was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Rice University, and was cellist of the Fischoff Award-winning Corigliano Quartet from 1998–2004.

Artistic Director and first violinist David Harrington said, "From the minute Judy Sherman [Kronos' longtime recording producer] told us about Jeff a few months ago, I knew he was going to be great. Hank, John and I have really enjoyed rehearsing and performing with him. He is a soulful musician who has amazing energy, pinpoint accuracy and a passion for the breadth of our work. He just slides naturally right into all the music we're playing, from Terry Riley to Rahul Dev Burman. We are delighted to welcome Jeff to Kronos."

Zeigler replaces Jennifer Culp, who performed with Kronos for six years. During that time Kronos won a Grammy (in 2004 for its recording of Alban Berg's Lyric Suite); celebrated its 30th anniversary with the debut of the Kronos: Under 30 Project (a commissioning program for young composers); created and premiered two evening-length multimedia works, Visual Music and Terry Riley's Sun Rings; was named Musical America’s 2003 'Musicians of the Year'; recorded the soundtrack to the film Requiem for a Dream and performed hundreds of concerts worldwide.

The Kronos Quartet, a not-for-profit organization based in San Francisco, was founded in 1973, and since its inception has emerged as a leading voice for new work. More than 500 string quartets have been written or arranged for Kronos, and its extensive repertoire ranges from Shostakovich, Webern and Bartok to composers of today with whom it closely collaborates, such as Terry Riley, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh and Osvaldo Golijov.

Kronos performs more than 100 concerts each year in concert halls, clubs and at jazz festivals throughout the world. In 2004/05, the Quartet toured 15 countries including appearances at the Sydney Opera House, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, London's Barbican Centre, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada, the Dresden Music Festival, and the WOMAD Festival in New Zealand.

In the 2005/06 season, the Quartet appears in 16 countries and will present several world premieres, including Henryk M. Gorecki's String Quartet No. 3 in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, on October 15, 2005, and, later in the season, works by Gabriela Frank, Peteris Vasks, Walter Kitundu, Michael Gordon, Alexandra du Bois, Dan Visconti, Glenn Branca, J. G. Thirlwell, Tanya Tagaq, Matmos and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen.

Season highlights include performances at the Chinese Music Festival at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw; collaborations with Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq at the Yukon Arts Centre and the Chan Center in Vancouver; an appearance at Vienna's Konzerthaus; and a five-concert festival at Carnegie Hall, including a collaboration with Bollywood singer Asha Bhosle, with whom Kronos has recorded its latest CD, You've Stolen My Heart, to be released on August 23. Kronos and Bhosle will also perform together at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, at UCLA's Royce Hall and the Barbican in London in September and October of 2005. The Quartet records exclusively for Nonesuch Records.

Contact:
Janet Cowperthwaite, Managing Director, Kronos Quartet
P.O. Box 225340
San Francisco, CA 94122-5340
Tel: 415/731-3533
Fax: 415/664-7590