THE STRAD: New Kronos Quartet album to donate streaming proceeds to charity
MARCH 11, 2025 -
“The new album of works by Mary Kouyoumdjian will support Armenian and Lebanese communities affected by social and political conflict…”
The Kronos Quartet will release a new portrait album of works by Pulitzer Prize-nominated Armenian-American composer and documentarian Mary Kouyoumdjian, called WITNESS.
Kouyoumdjian comes from a family that was directly affected by the Lebanese Civil War and Armenian Genocide. The new album aims to use a sonic palette to draw on her heritage, interest in music as documentary, and background in experimental composition to progressively blend the old with the new.
The label, Phenotypic Recordings, will donate all streaming proceeds from WITNESS to two charities supporting Armenian and Lebanese communities. Kooyrigs, which means ’sisters’ in Armenian, is a women-led non-profit organisation and NGO that spearheads projects and initiatives from humanitarian aid and advocacy to leadership camps and community art projects.
Proceeds will also go to the Lebanese Red Cross, which is acting on the frontlines of the response to the war in Lebanon.