David Harrington, founder, director and first violinist of Kronos Quartet, has committed Kronos since its beginnings in the 1970s to living composers, commissioning music from all corners of the globe. When the quartet reached its thirtieth year it had commissioned and performed more than five hundred new works. Forging past every genre barrier, Harrington formed an ensemble with a startling new look and a willingness to explore uncharted territory (Rolling Stone named the quartet the “Fab Four"). Harrington was inspired to form the quartet after hearing George Crumb's Black Angels with its clear anti-Vietnam message; the Kronos journey began with the exchange of a bag of doughnuts with composer Ken Benshoof for his piece Traveling Music. Since that time, Kronos' forays into the far reaches of classical music, jazz, rock and folk idioms have been unique. Through collalborations with composers and musicians from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, Kronos has made a substantial contribution to quartet literature, helped create a mass market for world music, and proved that classical music is no longer exclusively a European-American enterprise.