The masters of the masters

Arizona Daily Wildcat photo courtesy of Caroline Greyshock "The Fab Four of Classical Music," Kronos Quartet, (from left: Hank Dutt, Jennifer Culp, David Harrington, and John Sherba) will be playing two concerts in Tucson at the Scottish Rite Cathedral on Friday and Centennial Hall on Saturday. They will also be talking to students tomorrow in CESL 102 at 7:30 p.m.

Then again, maybe old Ludwig van, six feet under, is just trying to get his groove on. In either case, the Kronos Quartet continues to push the limits of two violins, a cello and a viola.

The history of the Kronos Quartet has been beset with hard work, at times having to learn four new major works every month, yet all the while steeped in the vernacular of the super hip. Prior to scoring a residency at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., early Kronos members scraped together their meager musician existences playing at weddings, or for pocket change in the streets of San Francisco.

Rose Drucker, a music performance major at the University of Arizona, along with Allison Joyner, Kim Grier and Tara Houser of the music department, will have an opportunity to play for and receive feedback from the Kronos Quartet.

"We're going to play the first two movements of Hindamith's string quartet," explained Drucker, "and then they're going to coach us. For at least part of the master class, they are going to do a question and answer session with the music students."

Drucker, who took third place in the 1998 University of Arizona President's Concerto Competition, is not unfamiliar to modern applications of the violin, having played on the latest album by local rock group Pathos.

"I think that the Kronos Quartet has done a good job showing that classical music isn't just a bunch of boring, dead, white guys," said Drucker.

As well as devoting "themselves to playing modern, non-traditional, experimental music for string quartets," explained Drucker, "they have incorporated different instruments, like crystal glasses filled with water."

The ingenuity, creativity, and perseverance of the Kronos Quartet has kept them busy over these last 25 years, with a complete repertoire of 600 works and 30 albums. In fact, the Kronos Quartet has commissioned more compositions from contemporary composers than the number of string quartets arranged by Haydn, Schubert, Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven combined. Pieces of Africa, an album released in 1992, had the honor of gracing the top of both the world and classical Billboard charts.

Kronos' upcoming stay in Tucson will be busy, with no fewer than four public performances or lectures. Tomorrow, January 28, at 7:30 p.m., Kronos Quartet will present a free public lecture/discussion at CESL 102. Friday, at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, located at 110 S. Scott, the Kronos Quartet will perform their "Early Music" concert, and on Saturday, at Centennial Hall, Kronos will play their "25th Anniversary Concert." Tickets are priced at $20 for the "Early Music" show and from $16 to $22 for the "Anniversary" show. Students with ID will receive half-off admission prices for both shows. Call 621-3341 for more information.