ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses collaborations between rock and classical musicians. Pluralism is perhaps the most striking characteristic of twenty-first-century music, in both production and consumption. The Kronos Quartet adopts many aspects from popular music, including the orientation as a band, fitting into the dominant infrastructure of clubs booking bands. They performing their own music or commissioning composers in their social circle, using amplification and theatrical lighting, fashion and looks, and promoting their music in the same channels as indie rock. The ensemble embarked on cross-genre collaborations largely from a starting point of admiring certain musicians and desiring to work with them, both personally and artistically. The themes within the area of benefits include personal growth, changed perspective, artistic expression, social solidarity and audience development. Collaboration has the potential to bring different audiences together, as each partner in collaboration attracts its own audience. Where mutuality was present, it was considered a strong enabler of success, and it was coupled with valuing difference.
