Arts & Entertainment
Courtesy of Kimball
Kronos
Kronos Quartet defies
‘classic’ stereotypes
By Charles Lieurance
Senior Editor
You’re in a quiet, drafty baroque
room, sitting in unnatural postures
on furniture meant to look at, not sit
Concert Preview
on. Botticelli’s "Venus on the Half
4 Shell" hangs in a gilt frame on the
wall over a bust of Voltaire. Quiet
coughs. Light whispers.
"Ladies," the host nods to the
left.
“Gentlemen,” the host nods to
the right.
“The Kronos String Quartet,” the
host nods forward.
Enter the string quartet. Violinist
John Sherba wears a leather head
band and best, sports a spiked arm
band and a two-day shadow of facial
hair. Cellist Joan Jeanrenaud and
violist Hank Dutt look as If they
belong in the Talking Heads instead
of these staid environs.
And then there’s David Harring
ton, the quartet’s first violinist and
outspokesman, and a dead ringer
for The Psychedelic Purs’ Richard
Butler.
The Kronos Quartet are stout
defying musical stereotypes, said
Harrington, who started the group
in 1973 in Seattle. Harrington was
primarily influenced by George
Crumb’s electric string quartet,
Black Angels. The current lineup
has been together since 1977 and
now considers San Francisco — the
musical melting pot that has,
throughout the 1980s, spawned
numerous bizarre musical hybrids
— their home.
“There's too much aggression in
the air in New York,” Harrington
said. “San Francisco is more open.”
The quartet, all in their early to
late 30s, have assimilated most of
the experimental music of the last
25 years into their classical conflgu
ration. Between Bart ok quartets a
Kronos audience is treated to works
by Thelonious Monk, John Lurie (of
Lounge Lizards’ fame), Philip Glass,
John Cage and Omete Coleman.
Kronos had a cult hit with a string
version of Jimi Hendrix’s incendiary
“Purple Haze” last year.
"People expect a string quartet
to be reserved and sedate, black tie
and suit sort of thing,” Harrington
said. "We hope to bring out the
timelessness of the music, to show
that it crosses stylistic boundaries
that were set up arbitrarily."
Although the Kronos Quartet do
not leap about the stage like The
Who or smash their violins over
their knees to verify their creative
intensity, their shows have a kineti
cism that comes from a rapt at ten
tiveness to the music, to its imme
diacy and sensuality. In this way
Kronos Quartet is connected as
much to the more experimental
ends of rock’n’roll as it is to the
classical traditions of string
quartets.
“We draw the people who are into
the new, more adventurous music in
rock as well as those who are drawn
to classical virtuosity,” he said.
The Kronos Quartet will perfrom
at 8 p.m. Sunday at Kimball. For a
less formal view of the group, the
quartet will perform Monday night
at the Zoo Bar.
Blues musician John Hartford
at Per shing Auditorium tonight
John Hartford, renowned bluegrass
artist, will perform tonight in Pershing
Auditorium with the Lincoln Symphony
orchestra.
Hartford, an accomplished riverboat
pilot as well as a consummate fiddler
Concert Preview
and bai\jo player, has won several
Grammy awards for his music, includ
ing two for his hit song ‘‘Gentle on my
Mind,” made popular in 1967 by Glen
Campbell.
Hartford has performed many of the
nation’s leading symphon orchestras,
including the Oklahoma CitySymphony,
the Owensboro (Ky.) Symphony Or
chestra and the Denver Symphony Orch
estra. Over the course of several LPs
Hartford has been instrumental in popu
larizing traditional bluegrass and
incorporating it into immediately acces
sible pop songs. His repetoire swings
easily from standard traditional Appal
achian and Bayou picking to more con
temporary compositions.
Hartford’s newest album is entitled
“Annual Waltz" and is on the MCA/Dot
label.
Hartford is presented as part of the
Lincoln Symphony’s annual September
Pops performance. Concert-goers will
have the opportunity to bring a picnic
supper with them to the concert, and
the most imaginative combinations of
picnic spread and costume will be
awarded prizes during the performance.
Audience members also will be able
to bid on the chance to conduct the
orchestra. The highest bidder will con
clude the evening’s performance by
leading the Orchestra in a rendition of
John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes
Forever.”
In addition to accompanying Hart
ford, the Lincoln Symphony will pres
ent classical and pop songs.
The concert will begin at 8 p.m., but
the auditorium doors will open at 6
p.m. for picnickers. Cash bars will be
open throughout the evening. No alco
holic beverages will be allowed into the
auditorium.
Tickets are $19.50 for reserved table
seating and $6 for general-admission
seating. Student tickets for general
admission seating are $5.
Lincoln Symphony Orchestra Music
Director Robert Emile will conduct the
orchestra as it accompanies Hartford.
The September Pops, and many other
activities of the Lincoln Symphony
Orchestra, is made possible, in part,
through the support from the Nebraska
Arts Council and the National Endow
ment for the Arts.
The September Pops is also made
possible through the assistance of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln School
of Music.
Traditional Bhutan articles, textiles
displayed Sunday at Morrill Hall
Exhibits of traditional articles and
textiles from the Himalayan Kingdom
of Bhutan will open Sunday in the
Lentz Center lor Asian Culture, at the
University of Nebraska State Museum
in Morrill Hall.
Featured at the 3:30 p.m. opening
will be a lecture by Walter Roder on
“Architecture, Rituals and Social Cus
toms of Bhutar.”
Roder, who is pursuing a doctorate
in agronomy at UNL, and his wife, Kun
zang, a native of Bhutan, provided the
articles and textiles for the exhibit.
Bhutan is located in the eastern
Himalayas, south of Tibet and north of
India. It has only recently emerged
from centuries of isolation and opened
to tourists. The Lentz Center display
provides a general introduction to the
country. It is made up of everyday util
itarian objects, rather than objects of
antiquity.
Bhutan is noted for its handwoven
materials. Weaving in Bhutan involves
all members of the family. Today, Bhu
tan has the highest percentage of hand
weavers in the world.
The exhibit includes numerous
examples of handwoven fabrics, sashes,
garments, bags and other objects.
The Lentz Center is in Morrill Hall
304.
The exhibit will run through
mid-December.
Hours at the Lentz Center for Asian
Culture are 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Tuesday
through Saturday and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Sunday.
Call 473-5841 for more information.
Courta»y oTCmn***
The Chinese Youth Goodwill Mission perform.
Chinese performers will dance
and explain tonight at Kimball
By Jeanne Bourne
Senior Editor
The Chinese Youth Goodwill Mission
will give a performance of Chinese cul
ture tonight at 8 p.m. in the Kimball
Recital Hall, said Judy Wendorff, adviser
for International Educational Services.
The show will include demonstra
tions of martial arts, classical and folk
dancing, music, the famous dragon
dance and some cultural explanation,
she said.
The 16-member student troupe from
Taiwan is selected from 104 colleges
and universities. It is quite an honor to
be chosen for the tour, said Tyan Ming
Chu of the Free China Association.
The performers take a year off school
to prepare for and take the tour, Wen
dorff said. By the time they tour they
look like professionals, she said.
The bright, colorful costumes and
extravagant choreography are like a
Broadway performance, she said.
The tour, in its 13th year, has come
to UNL before but does not come every
year, she said. This year the tour is
stopping at 26 universities from coast
to coast. Other stops include universi
ties in California, Missouri, Iowa, South
Dakota, Vermont, New York and Ver
mont.
Chu said his organization distrib
uted 900 free tickets. People who don’t
have tickets will be admitted if seats
are available.
