In this episode of Air Time from UCSB Arts & Lectures, host Charles Donelan sits down with the members of Kronos Quartet — David Harrington, Gabriela Díaz, Ayane Kozasa, and Paul Wiancko — on the eve of their Santa Barbara performance of Three Bones, taking place Saturday, May 2, at 6 p.m. at UCSB Campbell Hall.
Structured as a triptych, Three Bones explores the histories and cultural contributions of Indigenous Americans, the Gullah Geechee people of the South Carolina Sea Islands, and Chinese Americans, weaving together newly commissioned music, archival recordings, filmed elements, and live collaboration. The quartet discusses the origin of the project’s evocative title, its connection to the United States’s 250th anniversary, and the extensive research and artistic partnerships that shape the work — including appearances by pipa virtuoso Wu Man, percussionist Quentin Baxter, and Apache violinist Laura Ortman.
The conversation ranges widely, from early wax cylinder recordings preserved at UCSB to the survival of a Mende funeral song across generations, and from landmark legal cases to the role of deep, cultural, historical listening as a guiding principle in Kronos’s work. Along the way, the ensemble reflects on the emotional and intellectual stakes of Three Bones, describing it as both a culmination of decades of boundary-expanding performance and a call to reimagine what a concert experience can hold.