PHENOTYPIC RECORDINGS SHARES SEVENTH EPISODE FROM NEW PODCAST: MUSICAL MINDS AND MISSIONS (M³)
PODCAST SUMMARY
LISTEN TODAY:
WITNESS: MARY KOUYOUMDJIAN, KRONOS QUARTET, AND MUSIC AS TESTIMONY
Sarah Cahill speaks with composer Mary Kouyoumdjian and Kronos Quartet founder David Harrington about Witness, Kouyoumdjian’s first solo portrait album. The conversation explores her long collaboration with Kronos, the Armenian folk song “Groung,” (Crane) the emotional force of recorded testimony, and how works like Bombs of Beirut and Silent Cranes transform memory, grief, and survival into deeply human music.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
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.
Phenotypic Recordings is donating all streaming proceeds from WITNESS to Kooyrigs ("Sisters"), the Lebanese Red Cross, and to support Armenian and Lebanese communities.
ALBUM CREDITS
Performed by: The Kronos Quartet (David Harrington, violin; John Sherba, violin; Hank Dutt, viola; Paul Wiancko, cello)
Composer: Mary Kouyoumdjian
Recorded in 2023 at 25th Street Recording in Oakland, California
Producer: Reshena Liao and Kronos Quartet
Recording Engineer: Scott Fraser
Assistant Recording Engineers: Gabriel Shepard and Karishma Kumar
Mixing and editing: Scott Fraser and David Harrington
Sampled testimonies and musical recordings editing: Mary Kouyoumdjian
Mastering: Scott Fraser
Executive Producer: Janet Cowperthwaite
Cover art and design: Osheen Harruthoonyan
Graphic design: Baron Arts
Liner notes: Atom Egoyan and Mary Kouyoumdjian
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
Groung (Crane) and I Haven’t the Words publisher: Track Pack Productions
Bombs of Beirut and Silent Cranes publisher: Schott Music Corporation, New York, NY.
FOR PHENOTYPIC PODCASTS
Podcast Host: Sarah Cahill
Podcast Producer: AJ Machado
FOR PHENOTYPIC RECORDINGS
Michael Hostetler, Founder & CEO
Stephen Prutsman, Creative Director
Cristin Canterbury Bagnall for BroadBand Collaborative, Fractional COO
Mary Paz Cubero Navarro, Director of Product Development and Strategic Partnerships
K. E. Sekararum, Podcast Executive Producer
Aryahi Naomi Onaga, Operations Specialist
Lisa Takemoto, Project Manager
Justin J. Holden, Copy Editor
Christopher Kornmann for Spit + Image, Art Direction & Graphic Design
THE ARTISTS
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, and through its nonprofit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA), Kronos has commissioned more than 1,100 works and arrangements for quartet. 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. https://kronosquartet.org/
Mary Kouyoumdjian
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.
ABOUT PHENOTYPIC RECORDINGS
Phenotypic Recordings is a media company that brings to light new music by world-class musicians and innovative composers, with a focus on music that highlights the most important issues facing the world today. Artists include Kronos Quartet, Osvaldo Golijov, Kenji Bunch, (MoVE) MoVE (Modern Violin Ensemble), W4RP and more. As another way of amplifying artistic voices, Phenotypic Recordings donates revenue from streaming and downloads to support humanitarian causes identified by the artists making the music.
For more information about Phenotypic Recordings, visit phenotypicrecordings.com
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For more information, please contact
Krista Williams, Christopher Emond or Carla Sacks at Sacks & Co., 212.741.1000.