Two prestigious prizes to the Kronos Quartet

The quartet, which was founded in 1973 and whose current lineup includes violinists David Harrington and John Sherba, violist Hank Dutt and cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, has been given the $75,000 Avery Fisher Prize awarded by Lincoln Center. The roster of past winners that this foursome will join tends to represent a more straitlaced classical aesthetic, including violinists Gil Shaham and Joshua Bell, pianist Yefim Bronfman, Emanuel Ax and Murray Perahia. The Kronos Quartet will be given the award June 8.

On the other side of the coin, the group will journey to Stockholm for an August 30 Polar Prize ceremony with the King and Queen of Sweden. This award comes with approximately US $155,000. It's a very different musical company that the Kronos Quartet joins in Sweden: The other 2011 winner is is Patti Smith and recent past winners include Björk, Led Zeppelin and Gilberto Gil.

Listen to the Kronos Quartet on the Dacapo-release Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen: Kronos plays Holmgreen (6.220548).