Over its remarkable half-century of a trailblazing and genre-expanding career (thus far), the Kronos Quartet has effectively reinvented string quartet culture. Part of its mission, achieved through an uncommon dedication to commissioning works from sources far and wide, has been to offer a window on music from around the world and from non-traditional pockets of American heritage.
In an illuminating way, Kronos's most recent of countless concerts in Santa Barbara, at Campbell Hall last week, paid respects to deserving “other” pockets of American culture — just in time for the nation’s much-buzzed-about 250th birthday this July 4. Kronos’s three-part, three-hour project, Three Bones, was co-commissioned by UCSB Arts & Lectures and given its West Coast premiere here, fresh on the heels of its Carnegie Hall launch the week before.
Kronos made news last year with another Campbell Hall appearance, which was both part of the group’s milestone 50th-anniversary celebration and officially the “retirement party” gig for longtime members Hank Dutt (violin) and violist John Sherba. Their chairs have been ably filled by the younger violinist Gabriela Diaz and the violist Ayane Kozasa, joining the already-in-place cellist Paul Wiancko.