Kronos Quartet’s Manager to Step Down After 43 Years

Janet Cowperthewaite will be stepping down in October 2024

The longtime manager of the San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet and founding Executive Director of the Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA), Janet Cowperthwaite will be stepping down from her roles in October 2024 to pursue new opportunities in the performing arts. 

Cowperthwaite first started working with Kronos while still studying for her bachelor’s degree in Communications and Journalism at San Francisco State University. 

She was hired as KPAA’s first Managing Director in 1981 and later served as its founding Executive Director. Across her 43-year tenure, she has managed the career of the GRAMMY-winning quartet and developed its non-profit KPAA, where she has been part of commissioning 1,100 new works and arrangements, presenting an annual festival, and producing numerous education programs. 

For Kronos, she has arranged thousands of concerts in venues and festivals worldwide, plus overseen their recording projects resulting in over 70 acclaimed releases. She also helped to develop a fundraising operation that includes individual gifts and grants from foundations and government agencies.

“As the chief strategist and executive leader for Kronos, Janet invented a unique, sustainable business model that enabled Kronos to thrive,” said Washington Performing Arts President and CEO, Jenny Bilfield in the press release. “With a true sense of vision, laser focus, and integrity, Janet has been part of, and helped fuel, one of the most powerful creative legacies of our lifetime.”

Cowperthwaite’s role as a creative producer of Kronos projects began in 1987 with Live Video, designed by Larry Neff. Other productions included Terry Riley’s Sun Rings, with visual design by Willie Williams; At War With Ourselves-400 Years of You, with music by Michael Abels and text by Nikky Finney; and A Thousand Thoughts, written and directed by Sam Green and Joe Bini.

Her signature achievements include the creation of the Kronos Under 30 Project to commission and record the work of young composers; KRONOS MUSIC: The Future is Now, a program for high school musicians; and the upcoming Kronos Oral History Pilot Project, a collection of 50 oral histories collected from Kronos members, past and present, and many of the group’s collaborators.

Cowperthwaite was also pivotal to the success of Kronos Fifty for the Future — launched in 2015 and completed in 2023, the program has assembled 50 commissioned works that are available for free on the KPAA website, alongside recordings, interviews, performance notes, and more. 

Kronos Fifty for the Future also included a funding model with Carnegie Hall and over 50 other organizations, which contributed more than $1M of the $2.5M project budget. To date, 38,000 scores have been downloaded in 108 countries and territories. 

In her final KPAA legacy project, Cowperthwaite oversaw the Library of Congress’ recent acquisition of Kronos and KPAA’s archive, making Kronos’ work accessible to scholars, musicians, and others in perpetuity.

Prior to her departure, Kronos’s violinist John Sherba and violist Hank Dutt will retire in June 2024 after almost 50 years in the group.

Among her many awards include Musical America 30: “The Influencers,” and the Fan Taylor Award from the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. Additionally, she has served on the boards of the American Music Center, International Society for the Performing Arts, and the Association of Performing Arts Professionals; National Endowment for the Arts, SXSW, and Chamber Music America have also invited her as a speaker and panel member.

The KPAA Board of Directors is currently searching for Cowperthwaite’s successor and plans to fill the role by the time of her departure in October 2024.

“When I first met the quartet, I could not have imagined the amazing world that would unfold,” said Cowperthwaite in the press release. “It has been a privilege and honor to work with Kronos, one of the most important, creative forces of our time. They are incredible musicians and I have always been grateful for their trust and friendship. I have deeply valued the talented and committed KPAA staff, past and present – without which none of the successes would have been possible – and our Board of Directors, a steadfast foundation of support over the years. Our collective efforts have brought a lot of wonderful music into the world. It’s been thrilling to have a life in the arts, to grow up with this band, to work with hundreds of remarkable artists, and to create treasured relationships with countless colleagues. I will begin my next chapter with a great sense of accomplishment, and I wish Kronos and KPAA continued success as they move forward into an exciting future.”

“Artists and record companies rarely stay together more than five or ten years; Nonesuch and Kronos worked together over four decades and produced close to 50 albums,” added Robert Hurwitz, the former President of Nonesuch (Kronos’ longtime record label). “Janet made endless contributions that helped make that rare achievement possible.”

“Kronos Quartet got lucky when Janet Cowperthwaite joined us,” said Kronos founder, Artistic Director, and violinist David Harrington. “Soon she was our manager. How rare it is for her combined qualities of honesty, common sense, ingenuity, kindness, and a capacity for sustained hard work to all reside in one person. Janet soon became known affectionately throughout the worldwide music community. She has been instrumental in all of Kronos’ work these last 43 years. Janet has also been our bedrock through personal tragedies and societal traumas, and she has set the stage for the amazing career high points of Kronos. We are immensely and eternally grateful to Janet, and we wish her the very best always.”

“Janet’s strong sense of ethics, her willingness and ability to not just dream big but make those dreams a reality, and her complete dedication to the work have been central to the quartet’s extraordinary career,” added Kenneth Foster, co-chair of KPAA’s Board of Directors. “We will miss her enormously and are deeply grateful for all she has done to make Kronos the success that it is.”