Sun Rings
Kronos Quartet

The multimedia production Sun Rings is based on sounds of space collected by University of Iowa Prof. Don Gurnett over a 40-year period. The musical portion of Sun Rings was composed by Terry Riley and performed by the Kronos Quartet, and accompanied by a visual production created by visual designer Willie Williams.

Sun Rings was commissioned by NASA and co-commissioned by Hancher Auditorium, the University of Iowa, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation, and other music-presenting organizations.



Schedule of Kronos Quartet Sun Rings concerts*:
Oct. 26, 2002 Hancher Auditorium, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. Listen to discussion about the sounds of space and the Kronos Quartet
Jan. 23, 2003 Society of Performing Arts, Wortham Center, Houston, TX. Performance information
Mar. 22, 2003 Barbican Centre, London, UK. Performance information
July 19, 2003 Meany Hall, Summer Arts Festival, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Oct. 4, 2003 Sunset Cultural Center, Carmel, CA
Oct. 14, 2003 Orange County Performing Arts Center, Eclectic Orange Festival, Costa Mesa, CA. Performance information
Oct. 24-25, 2003 Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, San Francisco Jazz Festival, San Francisco, CA
Nov. 20, 2003 Loeb Playhouse, Stewart Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Jan. 10, 2004 Southern Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary, Canada
Mar. 7, 2004 World Music, CRASHArts, Emerson Majestic Hall, Boston, MA
Mar. 26, 2004 University of Arizona, Centennial Hall, Tucson, AZ
Mar. 28, 2004 Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, AZ
Apr. 3, 2004 Krannert Center, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
May 8, 2004 Clay Center for the Arts, Maier Foundation Performance Hall, Charleston, WV
Oct. 6, 8, 9, 2004 BAM Next Wave Festival Series, Opera House, Brooklyn, NY
Apr. 6, 2005 Bass Concert Hall, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Apr. 12, 2005 Curtis M. Phillips Center, University of Florida Performing Arts, Gainesville, FL
Apr. 27, 2005 Mondavi Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
June 29, 2005 Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Harris Theater, Chicago, IL
Feb. 25, 2006 Cleveland Museum of Art/Masonic Auditorium, Cleveland, OH
Mar. 21, 2006 University of Connecticut/Jorgensen Auditorium,, Storrs, CT
Mar. 31, 2006 Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville TN
May 30, 2006 Jorgensen Auditorium, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
July 11, 2006 Chatauqua Auditorium, Colorado Music Festival, Boulder, CO
Nov. 3, 2006 FirstWorks Festival, Providence, RI
March 24, 2007 Tongyeong Arts Center, Busan, Korea
March 27, 2007 LG Arts Center, Seoul, Korea
April 19, 2007 Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA
May 7, 2007 TITAS/McFarlin Auditorium, Dallas, TX
Jan. 18, 2008 Memorial Auditorium, Stanford, California
Feb. 24, 2008 Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, NY
March 14, 2008 Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
March 18, 2008 Sangamon Auditorium, Springfield, Illinois
May 16, 2008 Dresden International Music Festival, Dresden, Germany
Oct. 26, 2008 Fortezza da Basso, Florence, Italy
Nov. 13, 2008 Kingsbury Hall, Salt Lake City, Utah
Jan. 16, 2009 UNESCO, Paris, France
March 4, 2011 National Concert Hall, Taipei, Taiwan
March 6, 2011 Jhihde Hall of Cultural Center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Oct. 15, 2011 Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Oct. 16, 2011 Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Oct. 21, 2011 Earth Station, Long Gully, Belair National Park, Adelaide, Australia
July 15, 2012 Centre Hall, Riverside Museum, Glasgow, Scotland
March 23, 2013 Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Long Beach, California
March 1, 2014 Leighton Concert Hall, Notre Dame, Indiana

*Individual selections from Sun Rings also have been performed in other Kronos Quartet concerts throughout the world.


Sounds of Space - Listen to sample sounds of space

News articles:
Chicago Sun Times, July 1, 2005.
Gainesville.com, Kronos Quartet Rings with Space Music, April 7, 2005.
St. Petersburg Times Floridian Online, Feb. 1, 2005, Windows on the Universe
The Brooklyn Papers, Oct. 2004, Space Oddity
Arizona Daily Wildcat, March 25, 2004. Kronos Quartet Spaces Out with UA Choir
Tucson Citizen, Kronos Quartet to Deliver a Performance Nothing Less Than Cosmic, March 25, 2004
Calgary's News & Entertainment Weekly, Jan. 1, 2004, Making Music with the Universe
BBC Radio 4, Arts/Drama Front Row, March 20, 2003, Space Music
National Public Radio Morning Edition, Jan. 23, 2003, The Musical Sounds of Space
Houston Chronicle, Jan. 17, 2003, 'Sun Rings' Shares the Music of Space - PDF format
CBC Radio - The Arts Report, January 10, 2003, Quartet, Choir Debut NASA's 'Space Music'
Guardian, Dec. 6, 2002, Out of This World
latimes.com, November 10, 2002, Music of the Stars - 6MB PDF
BBC Radio 4, Science/Leading Edge, October 31, 2002, Sun Rings
The Telegraph, The Music of the Spheres
BayArea.com, August 27, 2002, Turning Sounds From Space Into a Symphony
Space.com, July 24, 2002. Science and Music Merge for Fall Concert
UI Press Release, March 2, 2001. UI Space Physicist's Sounds of Space Inspire Work of Art
Meet the Composer, Sun Rings & Close Encounters, William Rubright, D.D.S..

Links:
Kronos Quartet
Terry Riley
Willie Williams - Select 'Tours and Live Shows' to see images from Kronos Sun Rings
Radio and Plasma Wave Research Group
The Department of Physics and Astronomy
The University of Iowa