MeetFactory & Prague Music Performance: Kronos Quartet (50) + Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi (40)

Kronos Quartet. Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi. Two grand anniversaries will be celebrated on May 10 at the St. Salvator Church in Prague. ⚫
▷ Tickets: bit.ly/KronosHavloviMF

Kronos Quartet. The world-renowned string quartet celebrates its 50th anniversary on the music scene. Five decades of pushing the boundaries of what a string ensemble can be, five decades of relentless exploration of new musical horizons and breaking down barriers between genres. Kronos Quartet has established itself as one of the most influential formations in the music world, having played thousands of concerts, won three Grammy Awards and collaborated with David Bowie, Björk, Laurie Anderson or Nine Inch Nails. Kronos Quartet strings have also been featured in cult films and TV shows such as Requiem for a Dream, The Great Beauty or The Young Pope.

The quartet emphasizes long-term collaboration with the world's leading composers. Notable is the connection with minimalists, whose work has been brought into the awareness of a wider audience thanks to Kronos. One of the quartet's long-standing and frequent collaborators is Terry Riley, and their collaboration with Steve Reich, Phillip Glass and Arvo Pärt has also been significant. Fifty commissioned works by composers from around the world have been made available free of charge by the Kronos Quartet as part of their recently completed monumental 50 for the Future project. A part of the works will be presented live in Prague on May 10 during the quartet's anniversary world tour. Through this initiative, Kronos wants to motivate young and aspiring artists to interpret and play contemporary music.

This year also marks the anniversary of the world-famous multi-instrumentalist and composer duo Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi. "The Kronos Quartet's recordings have been an integral part of our musical life since day one. Probably the most important for us was their album with Steve Reich's composition Different Trains, which we had the opportunity to hear live in Prague many years ago. After the concert we brought them our album Malé modré nic (Little Blue Nothing) as a thank you. Little did we know that this album would bring us together for a joint concert at the St. Salvator Church in Prague.

A lot of time has passed and Kronos is celebrating 50 years and the two of us 40 years since we met and started living and playing together. The album Little Blue Nothing reached the then young guitarist Bryce Dessner in the early nineties, who liked our music so much that it inspired him to start writing on his own. He didn't tell us about it until 2007, when he invited us to join him on a tour around America. At that time he was already a member of the legendary band The National. Later he also wrote four songs for the Kronos Quartet, which were released on their album Aheym and one of them was called Little Blue Something. He dedicated the song to us as a thank you for inspiring him to find his own musical path..."

​The concert will take place on May 10 at the St. Salvator Church in Prague.


Tickets:
from 1200 CZK via GoOut ▷ bit.ly/KronosHavloviMF