Kronos Quartet Music Manuscripts Acquired by Library of Congress
The Kronos Quartet
The Library of Congress has acquired the collection of manuscripts, instruments, costumes, video and audio recordings from the San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet and its non-profit organization Kronos Performing Arts Association.
The world famous quartet consists of David Harrington (violin), John Sherba (violin), Hank Dutt (viola) and Paul Wiancko (cello). Over its half century of existence, the quartet has commissioned more than 1,100 works, released more than 70 recordings, and toured internationally. The Library recently inducted the 1992 Kronos Quartet’s album Pieces of Africa to the 2024 National Recording Registry.
"Kronos Quartet's impact on contemporary music is hard to overstate," said Susan H. Vita, chief of the Library's Music Division. "It is ideal for the quartet's legacy as cutting-edge multidisciplinary artists and commissioners of living composers to be preserved here at the Library of Congress, an institution which itself plays a role in the creation of new music and which has long been a preeminent international destination for the living string quartet tradition."
The Kronos archive will join the Music Division of the library's varied collections which include papers and music manuscripts of numerous composers commissioned and/or performed by the quartet, among them John Adams, George Crumb and Charles Mingus.
