Janet Cowperthwaite, Kronos Quartet Manager, Resigns After 43 Years

Janet Cowperthwaite, the Kronos Quartet's manager, will step down after 43 years with the group.

The Communications and Journalism graduate was a 21-year-old senior when she was told of a part-time job helping around the office of a local string quartet. That was in 1981. The part-time work turned into full-time employment, which later became a longtime partnership. Cowperthwaite has been described as the Quartet's fifth member, and "has been instrumental in all of Kronos' work these last 43 years," said Kronos founder, Artistic Director, and violinist David Harrington. He continues: "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."

She is also the founding Executive Director of the non-profit Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA).

Kronos Quartet: “Fifty for the Future” At Pierre Boulez Saal Open House — BERLIN, GERMANY - MAY 21: (L to R) Hank Dutt, Paul Wiancko, John Sherba and David Herrington of the Kronos Quartet perform in the Pierre Boulez Saal during an open house at the Barenboim-Said Akademie on May 21, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. The musical educational institution co-founded by the conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and the literary theorist Edward Said opened in 2016 and allowed visitors to see its facilities and hear its students, as well as the Kronos Quartet string ensemble, perform a program featuring selections from the latter's 50th anniversary album after that group held a one-week residency at the academy. Adam Berry/Getty Images

Dedicating her entire professional life to the ensemble, Cowperthwaite has arranged thousands of concerts all over the world, and led the production of more than 70 releases. Among her most famous ventures are the Kronos Under 30 Project to commission and record music by young composers; KRONOS MUSIC: The Future is Now, a mentoring 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 closest collaborators.

She also oversaw Kronos Fifty for the Future, a massive eight-year commissioning, education and legacy project that has made 50 commissioned works available for free on the KPAA website.

Cowperthwaite's final major KPAA project is the Archive of the Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association, which will make Kronos' work perpetually available via the Library of Congress.

Kenneth Foster, KPAA Board of Directors Co-chair, praised her "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."

When she resigns in October, she will be the third person to leave Kronos this year, following the departure of violinist John Sherba and violist Hank Dutt. By then, the group hopes to have found someone to take Cowperthwaite's place.