Frequent Kronos Quartet collaborator David Lang has been awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his composition The Little Match Girl Passion, which was premiered last October in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall. Lang's collaborations with Kronos Quartet include the string arrangement for Clint Mansell's Requiem for a Dream score, recorded for Nonesuch, and the opera The Difficulty of Crossing a Field.
Another Kronos collaborator, Azerbaijani composer-pianist Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, recently began a two-year tenure as a UNESCO Artist for Peace, after an April 3 ceremony in Paris. Her works for string quartet and piano were recorded on Kronos Quartet's 2005 album Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh.
The post recognizes Ali Zadeh's "efforts to raise public awareness on musical education for orphans and children in need, her contribution to spreading UNESCO's message of peace and tolerance, and her dedication to the ideals and aims of the Organization," according to UNESCO's website. The composer shares this distinction with an esteemed group of Artists for Peace including Gilberto Gil; Chico Bouchikhi, a founder and former member of the Gipsy Kings; and conductor Valery Gergiev.
Listen to "Reverse Time," movement two from Ali-Zadeh's Apsheron Quintet, with the composer on piano, off Kronos Quartet's Mugam Sayagi:
