Kronos Quartet For more than 30 years, San Francisco's Kronos Quartet—David Harrington, John Sherba (violins), Hank Dutt (viola) and Jeffrey Zeigler (cello)—has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the string quartet. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 45 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of the world’s most eclectic composers and performers, and commissioning more than 700 new works and arrangements for string quartet. Kronos’ work has also garnered numerous awards, including a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and “Musicians of the Year” (2003) from Musical America. |
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Kimmo Pohjonen Playing since age ten, Finnish accordion adventurer Kimmo Pohjonen has worked in rock, folk, theatre, dance, classical, improvisational and avant-garde music groups for over three decades. His singular mission for fifteen years has been to expand and reinvent accordion sounds, composition and performance. He plays a custom-made electrified accordion with sampler, effects, surround sound and special lighting on stage. He has released six albums, is in great demand and firmly established as one of Finland’s most important musicians. Known as “the man who revolutionized the accordion”, Pohjonen’s music has been called: “a riveting musical and surreal theatrical experience, a multi-dimensional display of totally original, astonishingly eccentric, and unabashedly uncompromising artistic genius.” (Jazzhouse) |
Samuli Kosminen One of Finland’s top percussionists and sampling masters, drummer, percussionist, composer and producer Samuli Kosminen has collaborated with a wide array of artists such as Kronos Quartet (USA), Valgeir Sigurðsson (Iceland), Jónsi (from Sigur Rós, Iceland), KTU (USA-Finland), Emiliana Torrini (Iceland) and many others. For the past decade his main collaborators have been Icelandic band Múm and Kimmo Pohjonen. With Pohjonen he has recorded two albums and an award winning film-score and toured Europe, American and Japan. With Múm, he has recorded four albums and toured Europe, America, Australia and Japan. Kosminen is currently planning his first solo album. |
Kronos Quartet
For more than 30 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet—David Harrington, John Sherba (violins), Hank Dutt (viola) and Jeffrey Zeigler (cello)—has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the string quartet. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 45 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of the world’s most eclectic composers and performers, and commissioning more than 700 new works and arrangements for string quartet. Kronos’ work has also garnered numerous awards, including a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and “Musicians of the Year” (2003) from Musical America. Since 1973, Kronos has built a compellingly eclectic repertoire for string quartet, performing and recording works by 20th-century masters (Bartók, Shostakovich, Webern), contemporary composers (Aleksandra Vrebalov, John Adams, Alfred Schnittke), jazz legends (Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk), and artists from even farther afield (rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix, Azeri vocalist Alim Qasimov, avant-garde saxophonist John Zorn). Integral to Kronos’ work is a series of long-running, in-depth collaborations with many of the world’s foremost composers. Kronos has worked extensively with composers such as “Father of Minimalism” Terry Riley, whose work with Kronos includes Salome Dances for Peace, the multimedia production Sun Rings, and 2005’s The Cusp of Magic; Philip Glass, recording his complete string quartets and scores to films like Mishima and Dracula; Azerbaijan’s Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, featured on the 2005 release Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh; Steve Reich, whose Kronos-recorded Different Trains earned a Grammy; Argentina’s Osvaldo Golijov, whose work with Kronos includes both compositions and extensive arrangements for albums like Kronos Caravan and Nuevo; and many more. In addition to composers, Kronos counts numerous artists from around the world among its regular collaborators, including Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man; the legendary Bollywood “playback singer” Asha Bhosle; Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq; Mexican rockers Café Tacuba; the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks; and the renowned American soprano Dawn Upshaw. Kronos has performed live with the likes of icons Allen Ginsberg, Modern Jazz Quartet, Tom Waits, David Barsamian, Howard Zinn, Betty Carter and David Bowie, and has appeared on recordings by such diverse talents as Nine Inch Nails, Amon Tobin, Dan Zanes, DJ Spooky, Dave Matthews, Nelly Furtado, Rokia Traoré, Joan Armatrading and Don Walser. A non-profit organization, the Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association is committed to mentoring emerging musicians and composers, and to creating, performing, and recording new works. The quartet spends five months of each year on tour, appearing in concert halls, clubs, and festivals around the world including BAM Next Wave Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Barbican in London, WOMAD, UCLA’s Royce Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Shanghai Concert Hall and the Sydney Opera House. Kronos is equally prolific and wide-ranging on disc. The ensemble’s expansive discography on Nonesuch Records includes collections such as Pieces of Africa (1992), a showcase of African-born composers, which simultaneously topped Billboard’s Classical and World Music lists; 2000’s Caravan, whose musical “travels” span North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East; 1998’s ten-disc anthology, Kronos Quartet: 25 Years; Nuevo (2002), a Grammy- and Latin Grammy-nominated celebration of Mexican culture; and the 2003 Grammy-winner, Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite. |
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Playing since age ten, Finnish accordion adventurer Kimmo Pohjonen has worked in rock, folk, theatre, dance, classical, improvisational and avant-garde music groups and ensembles for over three decades. For over fifteen years, his singular mission has been to expand and reinvent accordion sounds, composition and performance. He records and performs with his own custom-created electrified and MIDI-fied accordion alongside a rack with sampler and a multitude of effects plus surround sound and specially designed lighting on stage. He has released six albums, is constantly in great demand and firmly established as one of Finland’s most active and important musicians. His music has been called: “a riveting musical and surreal theatrical experience, a multi-dimensional display of totally original, astonishingly eccentric, and unabashedly uncompromising artistic genius.” (Jazzhouse) Pohjonen is involved in many projects and ensembles: Kluster duo with Samuli Kosminen released two albums and toured the UK with Tapiola Sinfonietta for the Kalmuk Symphony program. Trio KTU features Pohjonen with King Crimson’s Pat Mastelotto and Trey Gunn (originally a quartet with Samuli Kosminen). Pohjonen’s Earth Machine Music features live electronic accordion performances with local farmers and their machines, successfully touring in UK and Australia. He works with visual performance artist Ville Walo in the project Iron Lung also with Finnish trio K Cube and in an improvisational duo with French drummer, Eric Echampard. Pohjonen currently also works with Finland’s Proton String Quartet. Pohjonen enjoys a high profile in UK with performances at The Proms at Royal Albert Hall London, Jazz Festival at the Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall, David Bowie’s Meltdown Festival and Patti Smith’s Meltdown at Royal Festival Hall 2005. He as also appeared on the TV program Later with Jools. Pohjonen has composed music for the Finnish dance performance Hardcore Humppa by choreographer Harri Kuorelahti with the Helsinki Dance Company. He has composed music for the Swedish choreographer Lisa Torun and has collaborated with dancers /choreographers Tero Saarinen and Carolyn Carlson. Finnish choreographer Jorma Uotinen directed the Finnish National Opera Ballet performing Pohjonen’s Kielo music at Helsinki’s National Opera House and in Netherlands and Australia with local dance companies. Pohjonen has also composed music for Finnish, Russian and British films. Pohjonen and Kosminen composed music for the Finnish / Chinese feature film Jade Warrior, the score of which won the Finnish Jussi Award “Best Film Score” prize of 2005. Kimmo Pohjonen has received two consecutive five year artist grants from the Finnish state. He was Named “Accordionist of the Year” for 2000 and 2001 in Finnish Jazz magazine Jazz Rytmit and received the Nordic Council Music Award. Pohjonen was nominated for BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards in 2002 and again in 2005 for the BBC Radio 3 Planet Award. Pohjonen’s most recent project is Accordion Wrestling, a music, sport, theatre, dance, performance art spectacle featuring ten Finnish wrestlers and surround audio with video. Accordion Wrestling was performed in Finland and St. Petersburg in 2010 and will be performed in Hamburg in February 2011. It will mutate into a new production, Battle 2011, featuring the K Cube trio and Proton String Quartet and will premiere at the Turku Cultural Capitol events in Turku, Finland, August 31–Sept 3, 2011. Also in production is a documentary film about Kimmo Pohjonen, to premiere in May, 2011. |
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Samuli Kosminen
Samuli Kosminen is one of Finland’s top percussionists and sampling masters. After studies in Helsinki’s Pop/Jazz Conservatory in the early 90s he worked with numerous Finnish pop artists as drummer and percussionist. Gradually he began experimenting w ith electronic percussions and sampling and modified his instruments accordingly. Kosminen and Pohjonen first met in 2000 and made their Kluster duo album followed by the Kalmuk album and UK tour with Tapiola Sinfonietta. As Kluster, they have performed in Europe, America and Japan including David Bowie’s Meltdown festival in London and Carnegie Hall in NYC. The duo was also one half of the original KTU band with Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto (of King Crimson) and they composed the Jussi Award winning Jade Warrior film-score. Over the past decade, as drummer, percussionist, composer and producer, Kosminen has collaborated with a gargantuan array of Finnish and foreign rock, pop, jazz and electronic music artists such as Kronos Quartet (USA), Valgeir Sigurðsson (Iceland), Jónsi (from Sigur Rós, Iceland), KTU (USA-Finland), Emiliana Torrini (Iceland) and many others. His main collaborators besides Pohjonen have been Icelandic band Múm. After four Múm albums and several world tours, Kosminen has gained a reputation as an original drummer whose style integrates acoustic drums with electronic beats like an organic drum machine. He has also co-written several songs with the band. Renowned for purveying an otherworldly, almost magical aura, Múm has said to make experimental music that’s naturally, effortlessly imbued with a pop sensibility. This critically acclaimed group has garnered a cult following around the world. Selected performances with Múm: Shepherd´s Bush Empire London, Fuji Rock / Japan, Coachella Festival / USA, ATP festival / UK, Sacrum Profanum festival/Poland (with Polish Radio Choir and Sinfonietta Cracovia), Wordless Music Series in NYC. Kosminen has written music for four different performances of WHS, a Finnish contemporary circus and visual theatre group (juggler Ville Walo & magician Kalle Hakkarainen). He has also composed music for Finnish short films and documentaries. Additionally, Kosminen works with Finnish jazz saxophonist Jukka Perko, in their co-composition Konela (premiered in Viapori Jazz Festival, Helsinki, 2006). Konela is based on the sounds of old farming and metal factory machines from the 20s to the 80s and the machines are heard both sampled/manipulated and live. Kosminen plays a custom built pneumatic rhythm machine specifically designed for the piece. Kosminen and Perko are currently working on a new piece to premiere in Finland this year. Kosminen also plays on an upcoming album by German pianist & composer Hauschka. They will be performing together this year. |
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