The Malta Arts Festival will present a three-day residency for string quartets with Kronos Quartet between 30 June and 2 July 2013. The residency is a unique opportunity to work with one of the world’s most influential contemporary music ensembles that, for the past 40 years, has been committed to expanding the limits of the string quartet through a “spirit of fearless exploration”.
The residency will form part of the Malta Arts Festival, a showcase of top quality events held annually in Malta’s capital Valletta in summer. Listed by the UK Sunday Times Travel section on its Top 10 opera, dance and arts festivals taking place across Europe in 2011, the Malta Arts Festival has achieved international recognition since it first started out eight years ago. The Festival is a member of the European Festivals Association.
The eighth edition of the Festival, which this year will be held between 30 June and 14 July, aims to encourage local and foreign artists and performers side by side. With a varied programme of performance, music, dance and visual arts, the Festival offers a broad range of genres and artistic forms. Held mainly in open-air venues in Malta’s warm summer nights, the event has also over the years opened up little-used and special venues, such as the Presidential Palace courtyard, the Old Opera House ruins and Argotti Gardens, and been an impetus for the islands to set about providing a greater diversity of art and performance spaces.
Chosen applicants will be coached by Kronos quartet members David Harrington, John Sherba (violins), Hank Dutt (viola) and Jeffrey Zeigler (cello).The Kronos Quartet has performed thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 45 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of the world's most eclectic composers and performers, and commissioning more than 750 works and arrangements for string quartet. In 2011, Kronos became the only recipients of both the Polar Music Prize and the Avery Fisher Prize, two of the most prestigious awards given to musicians. The group’s numerous awards also include a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and Musicians of the Year (2003) from Musical America.
Kronos' recording and performances reveal only a fraction of the group's commitment to new music. As a non-profit organisation based in San Francisco, the Kronos Performing Arts Association has commissioned more than 750 new works and arrangements for string quartet. The quartet is committed to mentoring emerging professional performers and in 2007 Kronos led its first Professional Training Workshop with four string quartets as part of the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall. Subsequent workshops at Carnegie Hall and other venues have expanded this aspect of the quartet’s work. One of Kronos' most exciting initiatives is the Kronos: Under 30 Project, a unique commissioning and composer-in-residence programme for composers under 30 years old, launched in conjunction with Kronos' own 30th birthday in 2003. By cultivating creative relationships with such emerging talents and a wealth of other artists from around the world, Kronos reaps the benefit of 30 years' wisdom while maintaining a fresh approach to music-making inspired by a new generation of composers and performers.
Quartets wishing to apply are requested to fill an application form (includingsupporting material) by 15 April. Applications are received against a fee of €40 (per string quartet). The participation fee is €400 (per string quartet). A limited number of observers will be allowed to follow the sessions of work during the residency against a fee of €30 per person for all residency sessions.
Application forms can be downloaded from www.maltaartsfestival.org. For more information send an email to:[email protected]