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).
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.
