KRONOS QUARTET
MARY KOUYOUMDJIAN
WITNESS
A gorgeously compelling and shattering portrait album of Pulitzer Prize-nominated Armenian-American composer/documentarian Mary Kouyoumdjian, combining testimonies of the composer's family, friends, and community impacted by the Lebanese Civil War and Armenian Genocide, alongside the exquisite harmonies and disharmonies masterfully delivered by the Kronos Quartet.
KRONOS QUARTET - MARY KOUYOYUMDJIAN - Bombs of Beirut: II. The War
“Bombs of Beirut: II. The War”
KRONOS QUARTET
David Harrington, violin
John Sherba, violin
Hank Dutt, viola
Paul Wiancko, cello
For 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet has reimagined what the string quartet experience can be. One of the most celebrated and influential groups of our era, Kronos has given thousands of concerts worldwide, released more than 70 recordings, and collaborated with many of the world’s most accomplished composers and performers across many genres. Kronos has received more than 40 awards, including three Grammys and the Polar Music, Avery Fisher, and Edison Klassiek Oeuvre Prizes. In 2024, Kronos’ Pieces of Africa album was inducted into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress. Through its nonprofit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA), Kronos has commissioned more than 1,100 works and arrangements for quartet. KPAA also manages Kronos’ concert tours, local performances, recordings, and education programs, and produces an annual Kronos Festival in San Francisco. In its most ambitious commissioning effort to date, KPAA has recently completed Kronos Fifty for the Future. Through this initiative, Kronos has commissioned — and distributed online for free — 50 new works for string quartet designed for students and emerging professionals, written by composers from around the world.
MARY KOUYOUMDJIAN
is a composer and documentarian with projects ranging from concert works to multimedia collaborations and film scores. As a first generation Armenian-American and having come from a family directly affected by the Lebanese Civil War and Armenian Genocide, she uses a sonic palette that draws on her heritage, interest in music as documentary, and background in experimental composition to progressively blend the old with the new. A strong believer in freedom of speech and the arts as an amplifier of expression, her compositional work often integrates recorded testimonies with resilient individuals and field recordings of place to invite empathy by humanizing complex experiences around social and political conflict. A finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Music, Kouyoumdjian has received commissions for the New York Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Beth Morrison Projects, Alarm Will Sound, Bang on a Can, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and Roomful of Teeth among others. Her work has been featured internationally at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MASS MoCA, the Barbican Centre, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Millennium Park, Benaroya Hall, Prototype Festival, Cabrillo Festival, Big Ears Festival, Cal Performances, Tribeca Film Festival, and PBS. Kouyoumdjian holds a D.M.A. and M.A. in Composition at Columbia University, an M.A. in Scoring for Film & Multimedia from New York University, and a B.A. in Composition from UC San Diego. Kouyoumdjian is a cofounder of the annual new music conference New Music Gathering, is on faculty at The New School, and is based in Brooklyn, NY.
Album Information
TITLE: WITNESS
ARTISTS: Kronos Quartet
COMPOSER: Mary Kouyoumdjian
SUMMARY: A gorgeously compelling and shattering portrait album of Pulitzer Prize-nominated Armenian-American composer/documentarian Mary Kouyoumdjian, combining testimonies of the composer's family, friends, and community impacted by the Lebanese Civil War and Armenian Genocide, alongside the exquisite harmonies and disharmonies masterfully delivered by the Kronos Quartet.
CREDITS: Produced by Reshena Liao and Kronos Quartet | Recorded December 9–13, 2023 at 25th Street Recording in Oakland, California | Scott Fraser, Engineer | Gabriel Shepard and Karishma Kumar, Assistant Engineers | Edited and mixed by Scott Fraser and David Harrington | Mastered by Scott Fraser | Executive Producer: Janet Cowperthwaite | Cover art and design by Osheen Harruthoonyan | Graphic design by BaronArts | For the Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association: Mason Dille, Associate Director; Lucinda Toy, Business Manager; Jackie Power, Administrative Manager | Project Supervisor for Kronos: Reshena Liao
MUSIC WITH A MISSION: Phenotypic Recordings will donate its streaming proceeds from this album to Kooyrigs and the Lebanese Red Cross and to support the Armenian and Lebanese communities.
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Groung [Crane]
Bombs of Beirut:
I. Before the War
II. The War
III. After the War
I Haven’t the Words
Silent Cranes:
I. slave to your voice
II. you did not answer
III. [with blood-soaked feathers]
IV. you flew away
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Kronos extends special thanks to David Barsamian, Laurie Olinder; Kenneth Foster, Nayan Shah; Janet Cowperthwaite, Mason Dille, Dana Dizon, Sarah Donahue, Nikolás McConnie-Saad; Regan Harrington, Ian Nagoski; Mizue, Holland, Agnes, Darren, Jason, and Ashlyn; Greg Dubinsky; and Ayane Kozasa.
Mary Kouyoumdjian extends special thanks to the Kronos Quartet; Janet Cowperthwaite; Scott Fraser, Reshena Liao, the Kronos Performing Arts Association staff and board; Phenotypic Recordings; David Barsamian; Ian Nagoski; Tompkins Square Records; Traditional Crossroads; The Armenian Film Foundation; Taleen Babayan; Laurie Olinder; Atom Egoyan, Osheen Harruthoonyan, and her family and friends who generously shared their experiences and support. She thanks those involved with the Kronos Quartet’s entire discography, for shaping her listening and dreams for as long as she can remember.
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