Ken Benshoof
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Score and Parts -
Violin 1
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Violin 2
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Viola
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Cello
Program Notes
sweeter than wine (2015)
I. Souvenir
II. Postscript
Ken Benshoof
(b. 1933)
Composed for
50 For The Future:
The Kronos Learning
Repertoire
Artist Statement
“In the spring of 2015, David Harrington suggested I take another look at ‘Kisses Sweeter than Wine.’ I had put a refrain of that tune in the Traveling Music quartet in 1973, a work composed for Kronos. Before that, I had made arrangements and references to it in several other works. (This was a natural outgrowth of an extensive interest in folk music and some aspects of popular American music, a fling with a five-string banjo, and a love of Dorian mode.)
“This year’s view is delicate, with tenderness. It is a gentle walk, nostalgic in its various moods, comfortable in its own quietness, warm in its strengths.”
Ken Benshoof
Composer Interview
Ken Benshoof discusses his musical background, his relationship with Kronos, the piece he wrote for Fifty for the Future, and more.
Artist’s Bio
Ken Benshoof
USA
Composer/pianist Ken Benshoof was born in 1933 on a Nebraska farm. He went through high school in Fairbanks, Alaska. Studies at Pacific Lutheran University and the Spokane Conservatory were followed by a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, a Masters at San Francisco State University, and studies in London at the Guildhall School of Music as a Fulbright Scholar. His most influential teachers were Volfgangs Darzins, John Verrall, Roger Nixon, George Frederick McKay, and Afred Neiman.
Primarily a composer of chamber pieces, Benshoof has received commissions from a wide variety of sources, most notably the Kronos Quartet for whom he has produced eight works. He also served as resident composer at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater over several seasons and at the Seattle Repertory Theater for a number of years. Recently retired from a teaching career at the University of Washington, Benshoof resides in Seattle with his wife Theresa, who is a cellist with the Seattle Symphony.
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Help support Kronos’ 50 for the Future as we commission fifty new works designed expressly for the training of students and emerging professionals.
Working with Ken has prepared Kronos in so many ways for learning to be flexible, learning to think like a composer. He loves to have people who are playing his work actually make big, big decisions about it—he's very precise about what he wants, but he's also really loose about how you get there."
David Harrington
Artistic Director, Kronos Quartet
Working with Ken has prepared Kronos in so many ways for learning to be flexible, learning to think like a composer. He loves to have people who are playing his work actually make big, big decisions about it—he's very precise about what he wants, but he's also really loose about how you get there."
David Harrington
Artistic Director, Kronos Quartet
