Kronos Quartet
PIVOT Festival: Philip Glass @ 90
Friday, January 29, 2027 7:30pm
Herbst TheatreVenue Information
$85/$75/$65
About This Performance
Music of our time takes center stage as SF Performances’ PIVOT Festival celebrates 12 years of living creators and performers and their work that has defined an era and redefined styles and genres. The San Francisco Chronicle has called PIVOT “ingeniously planned” for its insightful and incisive dives into the music of right now, right here.
This season, we honor and celebrate Philip Glass as he turns 90, exploring his work and legacy in three programs featuring world class artists who are renowned interpreters of Glass’ work.
The final night of PIVOT features the multiple Grammy®-winning Kronos Quartet, acclaimed longtime champions of Philip Glass’ chamber music. They have served as a muse and vehicle for Philip Glass, inspiring premieres of new works and definitive performances and recordings.
Artist Information
Performer Biography
For 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet—David Harrington (violin), Gabriela Díaz (violin), Ayane Kozasa (viola), and Paul Wiancko (cello)—has challenged and reimagined what a string quartet can be. Founded at a time when the form was largely centered on long-established, Western European traditions, Kronos has been at the forefront of revolutionizing the string quartet into a living art form that responds to the people and issues of our time.
In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential groups of our era, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 70 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, and collaborating with many of the world’s most accomplished composers and performers. Through its nonprofit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA), Kronos has commissioned more than 1,100 works and arrangements for string quartet—including the recently completed 50 for the Future library of free, educational repertoire. Kronos has received more than 40 awards, including three Grammy® Awards and the Polar Music, Avery Fisher, and Edison Klassiek Oeuvre Prizes—among the most prestigious awards given to musicians. In 2024, the Library of Congress announced its acquisition of the Archive of Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association, a collection that includes 50 years’ worth of manuscripts, instruments, costumes, video and audio recordings, photographs, and more. Together, these materials constitute an invaluable record of Kronos/KPAA’s genesis, growth, and legacy, and will now be permanently housed in the Library’s Music Division alongside the storied histories of influential artists and composers from around the world.