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This post was originally published in encore magazine on April 7th, 2010.

The story of the young rock ‘n’ roller who dedicates his or her life to music upon hearing The Beatles first perform on Ed Sullivan has become something of a legend nowadays. Countless recollections from performers of popular music have been shared over the years, citing this exact moment as being the one when something inside them changed, when the seeds of possibilities were planted, and when they knew that their lives would never be the same.

For violinist David Harrington, a similar life-changing moment occurred in his young life as a musician, but not on television or with The Beatles. It was a new piece from avant-garde composer George Crumb, and it would have the exact same effect on him that the mop-topped Fab Four had on countless young artists before. It would be a moment of pure inspiration and would help give birth to the formation of a rock band of his own, the Kronos Quartet.

“In August of 1973, my wife and I had the radio on late one night, and all of a sudden this music came on,” he says. “At the time, it was hard to find music that felt right to me—not only to listen to but to play—and then, all of a sudden, that night there was ‘Black Angels.’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It didn’t really sound like a string quartet to me—I didn’t know what it was for the longest time [laughing]. But I found my ears just totally invigorated, cleansed and excited. So, I feel like in that one 20-minute period or so I was able to find my music.”

The piece was extraordinarily unorthodox and challenging, even within the world of experimental music of the time, and it marked new ground in the composition and performance of the string quartet. But for Harrington it was that musical complexity that seemed to have an adverse effect on him, helping to make sense of the Vietnam War-obsessed world that he was part of, leading him down a path that he would follow, even through today.

“For me, on one side there was late-Beethoven, and let’s say on the other was the sound of Jimi Hendrix,” he explains. “And, somehow, Black Angels brought those two together for me, and, all of a sudden, the world made sense—being a musician made sense. So I feel like everything I’ve done since then is basically the same: It’s attempting to find music that feels right.”

The global and decades-long journey that began as an outlet to be able to perform “Black Angels” in San Francisco has today grown into perhaps the world’s most famous string quartet. While most ensembles are stuck performing music by male composers between the years of 1750 and 1900, living somewhere in Western Europe, Kronos Quartet has forged a career, challenging audiences with modern compositions from around the world. They have also destroyed perceptions of what a proper and well-behaved string quartet should play, as evidenced from their 2000 release of the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack or a 2007 tour with wordsmith and musical madman Tom Waits. The result has earned them a reputation in the “classical music” world as innovators, supporters of diversity in music, and the breakers of as many cultural and artistic barriers as possible. Harrington says as technology and communication improve, this mission becomes more and more realized every day.

“It’s a fantastic time to be involved in music,” he says. “We have unprecedented access to other musicians, composers, instruments and technology. Not a day goes by when there’s not something really cool that’s about ready to happen in the world of our music. The fact that a couple of years ago I heard [this group] from Palestine on MySpace, and then within days I was in touch and they started writing music for us is simply amazing. To be able to have music from Palestine, Serbia, Iceland, and Egypt—places that one wouldn’t normally think there’d be any involvement in the world of the string quartet—is extraordinary.”

While the discovery and communication of the world’s many sounds are often an exercise in exploration, there are moments where the understanding goes much deeper. Harrington says that most of the world shares commonalities in terms of the cultural and almost primal importance of music, but there are still places today that don’t share the same philosophy. It’s an understanding that has helped him foster gratitude.

“Virtually every culture values music and has it as a central part of society, but it’s not always the case,” he says. “It’s interesting that we have this recording coming out next week—music from Afghanistan—and to hear stories of [a musician] having to hide his instrument in the trunk of a taxi cab to get it away from the Taliban is shocking. I mean, there are a lot of things that needs to be corrected in our society [in America], and all sorts of problems that need lots of attention, but we’re fortunate that we we’re not going to get our fingers broken if we play a musical instrument, or we’re not going to get shot going to concert. So we have a lot of things to celebrate.”

For Harrington the celebration isn’t only for the fact that he’s a part of a society that, despite all of its problems, still allows him to freely live the life that he chooses. It’s also because of the simple realization that regardless of what he’s playing or with whom, he gets to spend his days enveloped in music. In a world that places such importance on the beauty of sounds, he and his colleagues in the Kronos Quartet get to be the bearer of gifts. That, in and of itself, is reason enough to continue.

“I guess many years ago—almost 37—I decided that I was a musician and the world was just going to have to deal with it,” he says with a laugh. “And it hasn’t been easy. Many times it’s been a lot less than easy, but I’ve always been able to call myself a musician, and I really value that. For me the part of the responsibility, or job, is to share music and to transmute as much as possible. Not everyone in our society gets to call themselves a musician, yet nearly everyone is affected by music. So to be able to share that, at a certain point you’re really grateful for being able to be a musician and spend 24 hours a day exploring the world of music.”

Kronos Quartet plays on UNCW’s campus in Kenan Auditorium on Sunday, with ticket prices varying from $6 for students, $10 for faculty and staff, $20 for seniors and $24 for the general public. Kronos Quartet released their latest record, Rainbow, on March 30th, featuring Alim and Fargana Qasimov and Homayun Sakhi.

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