Kronos Quartet and k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang will be among the artists performing at this summer's Luminato, the Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity, this June. The Kronos Quartet Residency at Luminato will feature four concerts, including a free outdoor concert in Toronto's Metro Square, and initiatives with Luminato’s Education and Outreach programs. k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang will also perform a free concert in Metro Square.

Kronos Quartet performs two concerts at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis this weekend, featuring works from their album Floodplain and Laurie Anderson's Grammy-nominated "Flow." "It's hard to hype the Kronos Quartet," says the Star Tribune. "The group ... really has transformed the face of chamber music; it still makes many younger rivals seem staid." The Winnipeg Free Press gives 4.5 stars to a recent concert by this "new music royalty," exclaiming: "Everything they touch seems to turn to gold."

The Barbican in London has announced its Classical Music 2011–12 season, which includes a Kronos Quartet residency with a program of American music and a special mediation on the anniversary of 9/11; two concerts from the LSO celebrating Steve Reich's 75th birthday; and the UK premiere of Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach in conjunction with the Cultural Olympiad's London 2012 Festival.

Kronos Quartet, fresh off their multi-concert run at the Sydney Festival, is slated to be featured in a mini-festival of their own: Kronos in Glasgow. From May 12 through 15, Glasgow’s Concert Halls will welcome Kronos Quartet and some very special guest collaborators, hand-picked by Kronos, for a world exclusive international program of events across Glasgow, including the Scottish premiere of Steve Reich's new work WTC 9/11.

"The three string quartets Henryk Górecki wrote for Kronos are a totally unique body of work," writes Kronos Quartet Artistic Director David Harrington of the composer, who passed away earlier today. "With Already it is Dusk, Quasi una fantasia, and ...songs are sung, Górecki extended a tradition that includes Bach and Beethoven, among many others." Read Harrington's personal remembrances here and see photos of Kronos and the composer.

Emmylou Harris, Kronos Quartet, and Philip Glass will be among the diverse array of artists performing at the Sydney Festival in Australia this January. Harris will give three shows, including a free set at the Festival First Night, marking her first time performing in Australia in a decade. Kronos gives the Australian premiere of A Chinese Home, with pipa virtuoso Wu Man, and performs Glass's Dracula with the composer. Glass also offers an evening of his chamber music with cellist Wendy Sutter. The Black Keys will be in Australia for the Big Day Out tour plus several newly added side shows.

Kronos Quartet launches a three-year partnership with San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts with two nights of concerts at YBCA's Novellus Theater. The program includes George Crumb's Black Angels, Bob Ostertag's All the Rage, Ingram Marshall's Fog Tropes II, and new works by Aleksandra Vrebalov and Sahba Aminikia. "Kronos Quartet brings together an extraordinary legacy of evoking powerful expression with an unflagging commitment to supporting new artists and global perspectives," says YBCA curator Angela Mattox. "Tonight's program is emblematic of that commitment to support bold expression and profound human response."

Kronos Quartet returns to the Bay Area to perform at Stanford University's Memorial Auditorium tonight, following two sold-out shows at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge. The concert marks the Opening Night of the Stanford Lively Arts series. On the program, titled Awakening: A Meditation on 9/11, Kronos reflects on that fateful day in works from a dozen countries, joined on stage by the Cantabile Youth Singers.

Kronos Quartet performs a free outdoor concert at New York's Damrosch Park for the Lincoln Center Out of Doors series, featuring the world premiere of Christine Southworth's Super Collider, performed with Gamelan Galak Tika on the new Gamelan Elektrika, plus works by Steve Reich, Café Tacuba, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Raz Mesinai. Prior to the concert, Gamelan Galak Tika will lead a free workshop on the kecak, Bali's famed "Monkey Chant."

Kronos Quartet performed at the Cabrillo Festival over the weekend in a concert that led the San Jose Mercury News to exclaim: "With its charisma and chops, its taste and unflagging sense of mission, Kronos just keeps getting better. After 30-plus years, Kronos is tops, as it showed Sunday night." Kronos Quartet next performs a free concert at New York's Damrosch Park Bandshell Friday for the Lincoln Center Out of Doors series.

Today is composer Terry Riley's 75th birthday. The Nonesuch Journal spoke with Kronos Quartet's David Harrington about the group's decades long friendship and working relationship with the composer, celebrated in a concert tonight in California. (Kronos and Riley are pictured here at the composer's 50th birthday party.) "For me he's one of the world leading musical thinkers," says Harrington. "I'm looking forward to many more years together."

Kronos Quartet has just announced its summer tour dates, which will bring the group to venues in Europe, the United States, and Taiwan. Summer being festival season, Kronos will take part in some of the best, including Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Edinburgh International, Monterey Jazz, and Cabrillo. The group will also perform with Wu Man, Alim & Fargana Qasimov, and with Philip Glass, performing his score to Dracula, and will help celebrate Terry Riley's 75th birthday.