Kronos Quartet and Laurie Anderson join their distinct personalities and musical styles for the world premiere performances of Scenes From My New Novel, a new work composed by Anderson, in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s Kay Theatre in College Park, Maryland, tonight and tomorrow night. The Clarice Smith Center is one of several arts-supporting organizations commissioning the work. The artists will also participate in a Talk Back following tonight's performance.

Scenes From My New Novel offers a new sort of interplay between text and music. Through the use of the custom-built software program, Wordjam, instruments are able to initiate language within the piece. Additionally, the conflict between spoken and written text fractures the stories and creates a polyphonic structure.

“These are stories with tempos,” says Anderson. “Much of the music is generated from software we designed for the viola. It creates harmonies and delays that are then interpreted and expanded by Kronos. Working with them, experiencing their exquisite musicianship, has been a thrill and a privilege."

"I have hoped that Laurie Anderson would write for Kronos since first encountering her work 30 years ago," says Kronos Quartet Founder and Artistic Director David Harrington. "She is the master magician musician who has always inhabited those secret places where technology has personality, where 'real time' is questioned and where all the elements of performance meet and combine into music. Her process is to gather and continue to gather potentially useful aspects as she sculpts a shape. Her sense of play and fun and her continuous experimenting make her the ideal chemist (or is it alchemist?) in the laboratory of music. As Laurie discovers new essential elements the world of thought is more encompassing and emerging shapes of the future are becoming more apparent. What a thrill it is for Kronos to be turning the pages of Scenes from My New Novel as they are being written and the story is unfolding."

Laurie Anderson and Kronos Quartet will next present Scenes From My New Novel as part of their respective tours of Australia, including performances at the Perth Festival on February 27 and Adelaide Festival on March 2. The next US performances come this spring at Stanford University's Bing Concert Hall (April 20 and 21), Montclair State University's Alexander Kasser Theater (May 10 and 11). The European premiere will take place June 28 at Barbican Hall in London. For additional details on all of these performances, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.