Martin Theatre 200 Ravinia Park Road Highland Park, IL 60035 Website|Map
One of the most influential chamber groups of our time, the Kronos Quartet celebrates 50 years of music-making with a program of recent commissions and pieces from the Kronos Fifty for the Future project. Each piece sees its Ravinia premiere as the quartet takes the stage in the Martin Theatre, including the Midwest premieres of Aleksandra Vrebalov’s Gold Came From Space and Terry Riley and Sara Miyamoto’s Kiss Yo’ Ass Goodbye, a twist on “Nuclear War” by Sun Ra, who pioneered electronic avant-garde jazz in Chicago with his early Arkestra.
Completing the evening are Stacy Garrop’s Glorous Mahalia —a melding of strings with recorded Studs Turkel broadcasts where the WFMT host featured vaunted gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and her recordings—as well as Jlin’s Little Black Book, and Nicole Lizée’s ZonelyHearts. At the end of June, the Kronos Quartet bids farewell to violinist John Sherba and violist Hank Dutt, who will retire from the ensemble after more than 45 years each.
