Kronos Quartet’s David Harrington Kicks-Off GCAC Santa Ana Sites Series
Last evening, Grand Central Art Center kicked-off Santa Ana Sites, a series being developed by GCAC through community collaborations, which aims to present contemporary performance in public and private spaces, in and around downtown Santa Ana.
Santa Ana Sites #1 featured David Harrington, Founder and Artistic Director of the Kronos Quartet. Through our collaborative partner and the individual whose original conversation sparked this series, the inspiring Allen Moon, a select group of guests spent the evening in Moon’s downtown Santa Ana loft home, as Mr. Harrington shared his insights into Kronos’ creative process.
The evening began with a sound check, fine-tuning the system prior to the arrival of our guests. We wish to thank Dennis Lluy and The Yost for their support with staging equipment.
As the guests arrived, they were greeted with appetizers, drinks and lively conversation. Our thanks to Dan Bradley and Diego Velasco of Memphis for their generosity of quality food for the evening, as well as an additional thank you to Dennis Lluy and The Yost for their gracious support with the beverages. The mixer provided a chance to build new connections, meet those that are active with our community and visit with old friends.
Seats were put into place and the program for the evening was set to begin. Using samples of music that’s currently catching his ear, David first presented work that spoke to inspiration, influence and music that continues to affect the Kronos aesthetic.
He invited the audience to be engaged throughout the evening, which they did, asking intriguing questions and receiving David’s thoughtful responses. David shared information about current Kronos projects in development and spoke about the Under 30 project, an initiative that began during Kronos 30th anniversary, which cultivates the next generation of composers through commissions from composers under the age of 30. Kronos will announce the next selected composer of this honor at the end of this month..
It was an evening enjoyed by all, the perfect kick-off to our new GCAC series!
David is in town to perform with Kronos Quartet, as they present Sun Rings, Saturday, March 23rd at The Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts. The center is located on the campus of California State University, Long Beach. Information on the concert can be found online at:
http://www.carpenterarts.org/2012-2013/kronos-quartet.html
Kronos Quartet Website
Further information on Sun Rings can be found online at:
http://kronosquartet.org/projects/detail/sun_rings
Here is the annotated list of the selections David played last night, we thought you might enjoy it!
1] Beethoven String Quartet #12 Op. 127 in E Flat Major [opening] Budapest String Quartet [recorded 1961 Sony Classical]
2] David Harrington ‘Drone Forever’ Kronos Quartet –E Flat Minor Chord–from ‘Dirty Wars’ soundtrack
3] David Harrington ‘Drone for Children’ Kronos Quartet–E Flat Minor Chord [rhythm]–from ‘Dirty Wars’ soundtrack
4] ‘Llanero, si, soy Ilanero’ [Plainsman, Yes, I Am a Plainsman] from Joropo from the Orinoco Plains of Columbia [Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40515]
5] Fela Kuti ‘Sorrow, Tears and Blood’ Kronos Quartet [Red Hot to be released July 2013]
6] Mahalia Jackson ‘God Shall Wipe All Tears Away’ [recorded 1937 Vol. 1 complete Mahalia Jackson–Fremeaux & Associes]
7] trad. Swedish ‘Tusen Tankar’ [A Thousand Thoughts] Kronos Quartet [released on Kronos website]
8] Bob Dylan ‘Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right’ track #7 from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan [Columbia]
9] Bob Dylan/Philip Glass/Kronos ‘Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right’ track # 20 CD #3 from Chimes of Freedom-The Songs of Bob Dylan [Amnesty International]
10] Antarctica Doug Quin ‘Weddell Seals–Underwater’ track #3 [Wild Sanctuary]
11] Animal Music: Team of Jeremy Roht–West Dawson, Yukon Territory [Suppose]
12] Sounds of North American Frogs ‘The Biological Significance of Voice in Frogs’ tracks #1-3 recordings and narration by Charles M. Bogert [Smithsonian Folkways]
13] Don Walser/Kronos Quartet ‘Danny Boy’ live recording UT Austin [1999] -soon to be released
14] George Crumb ‘Black Angels’ Kronos Quartet track #1 ‘Night of the Electric Insects’ [Nonesuch]
15] Nicolas Repac ‘Black Box’ track #1 ‘Chain Gang Blues’ [No Format-Naive]
Individuals he mentioned during his program:
Studs Terkel [radio announcer/author]
Terence Blanchard [composer for Spike Lee’s ‘Katrina’]
Nikki Finney [poet–National Book Award]
Howard Zinn [historian/activist/writer]