Last Wednesday, Nonesuch Records' production coordinator, Ronen Givony, was listening to an eclectic set of music—piano pieces by Haydn and Messiaen, some electronic tunes, new music for laptop and strings. Not an unlikely mix off the iPod shuffle here at the office. But for this particular listening, Ronen was at a concert at the Good-Shepherd Faith Church on Manhattan's Upper West Side for the much rarer thrill of attending a concert he had produced himself. It was the latest event in the successful series he created last year called Wordless Music.

On October 25 and 26, Glenn Kotche and Kronos Quartet premiered Glenn's new piece for quartet and percussion, Anomaly, at the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Last month, we brought you the notes Glenn wrote for the program, in which he describes the very personal inspiration for the new work. Here, in a note he's written exclusively for the Nonesuch Journal, Glenn shares some insights into the process of composing, rehearsing, and performing a brand new piece during what was already a year of non-stop touring for Wilco, and for Kronos as well.

InisdeBayArea.com examines the many ways in which Kronos Quartet has gone well beyond the confines of the traditional string quartet. "We haven't called ourselves a string quartet, I think, in the last 34 years," Kronos violinist David Harrington says. "I remember as a kid looking at the map—and at that point I had only played Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven—and thinking, 'God, what does the rest of the world sound like? I'm going to find out.'"

Just announced: Glenn Kotche will be opening for Andrew Bird, left, at New York's Beacon Theatre on Friday, November 30. Glenn will be performing the world premiere of his Anomaly with Kronos Quartet at the San Francisco Jazz Festival this Thursday, October 25.

Glenn Kotche and Kronos Quartet sent in some photos from a recent rehearsal for their October 25 and 26 performances at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, where they'll premiere Glenn's piece Anomaly. To view the pictures, visit the photo gallery at nonesuch.com/media.

Glenn Kotche marks the world premiere of his new work, Anomaly, with Kronos Quartet, at the 25th Anniversary San Francisco Jazz Festival in a discussion of the story behind the collaboration (commissioned for Kronos by the Angel Stoyanof Commission Fund); the unique challenges of writing, as a percussionist, for string quartet; and the very personal inspiration for the piece.

By Glenn Kotche
Glenn Kotche offers a first-person account of his 12 hours at the 2006 Bang on a Can Marathon in New York City.