One of the world’s most celebrated and influential string quartets is heading to lutruwita Tasmania in a major musical coup for Ten Days on the Island 2023. Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet will perform in nipaluna Hobart during the Ten Days Festival in March, as part of their Five Decades Tour to celebrate the group’s 50th anniversary.

Welcoming the announcement, Ten Days Artistic Director, Dr Lindy Hume AM said, “It is delightful to finally share the news that Ten Days on the Island will present Kronos Quartet in nipaluna Hobart in March 2023 as part of the legendary quartet’s Five Decades Tour. Bringing Kronos to lutruwita Tasmania is the best gift imaginable for my final festival,” said Ms Hume, who steps down from her role next year after six years at the helm. But this is not the first time Lindy has worked with the renowned quartet, she reflects, “Presenting this extraordinary group of musicians with Philip Glass in Dracula at my 2011 Sydney Festival was utterly thrilling”.

“Kronos are the Rolling Stones of string quartets – these musicians have been blazing a brilliant trail through the global chamber music landscape for five decades. Their musical explorations have taken them into musical realms no serious string quartet before them ever dared to go. Kronos has embraced minimalism, film and popular culture, jazz, rock, world, children’s music, new choreography, electronica and more,” Ms Hume said.

Kronos have transformed classical music over the past half-century, reimagining the string quartet experience, reshaping contemporary chamber music and breaking barriers between genres. They have won more than 40 major awards and collaborated with a galaxy of musical stars including Steve Reich, Philip Glass, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Paul McCartney, and Patti Smith, released more than 70 recordings and commissioned more than a thousand works and arrangements for string quartet.

The Five Decades Tour will feature a curated selection of the group’s trailblazing work, with brand-new works and classic arrangements from composers around the world. The tour marks the debut of recently appointed cellist Paul Wiancko, performing alongside founder and violinist David Harrington, and long-time members John Sherba (violin) and Hank Dutt (viola).

Kronos Quartet, Five Decades Tour
9 MAR 2023
nipaluna Hobart
Federation Concert Hall

“Kronos’ last visit to Hobart was in 1988. Don’t miss these masters of avant-classical in the performance of a lifetime in 2023,” Lindy.

Tickets for Kronos Quartet Five Decades Tour will go on sale 22 November.
Our newsletter subscribers will have access to a 24-hour pre-sale on 21 November.