“Physical” Kronos Festival to Resume in April

Kronos Quartet members David Harrington, Hank Dutt, Sunny Yang, and John Sherba (courtesy of the Kronos Performing Arts Association)

According to my records, the last time that the Kronos Quartet of violinists David Harrington and John Sherba, violist Hank Dutt, and cellist Sunny Yang presented a “physical” version of its “hometown” festival was at the end of May of 2019. (This was followed by a festival in the summer of 2021, but that consisted entirely of streamed digital programs.) Similar to the case in 2019, the performances will take place from Thursday, April 7, through Saturday, April 9. The venue will again be the SFJAZZ Center, with three evening concert programs being held in Minor Auditorium and two Kronos Lab offerings in the Joe Henderson Lab, both on Saturday afternoon.

This year the Artist-in-Residence will be composer, arranger, and trombonist Jacob Garchik, who has had a long and fruitful artistic relationship with the quartet. Garchik will contribute to programming on all three of those “fronts.” There will be five world premieres, three of which were commissioned as part of Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Guest artists will include Rinde Eckert, with his own innovative approaches to vocal delivery, multi-instrumentalist Vanessa Vo, haegeum master Soo Yeon Lyuh, vocalist Mahsa Vahdat, and pipa virtuoso Wu Man.

Kronos has created a single Web page with up-to-date information summarizing performances in both Minor Auditorium and the Joe Henderson Lab. Ticketing will again be handled by the SFJAZZ Center on a performance-by-performance basis. So each event will have its own hyperlink for purchasing tickets. There will be reserved seating for all three of the evening concerts with prices ranging from $20 to $65. The first Henderson event at 2 p.m. will be general admission at no charge. Tickets for the following performance, at 5 p.m., will all be sold for $20.  Tickets may also be purchased by calling 866-920-5299 or by visiting the Box Office on the ground floor of the SFJAZZ Center. The SFJAZZ Center is located at 201 Franklin Street, on the northwest corner of Fell Street.