The world-renowned Kronos Quartet conducted residencies in the Ethnomusicology Department in 1994 and 1995 organized by Professor James Porter. Known for their groundbreaking performances of experimental and world music, the string quartet's first residency in spring of 1994 featured collaborations with several of the department's world music ensembles. A rigorous week-long rehearsal schedule culminated in a noon concert on May 6th which featured four daring experiments in cross-cultural performance/composition played by Kronos and our ensembles.

The opening piece consisted of Peking opera music arranged by Omid C. Burgin-Esmai'li and performed by Kronos with Xiao Wu on pipa and Qi Chao Liu on sheng. This was followed by a Ugandan-inspired composition by James K. Makubuya called Abadongo, performed by Kronos with Makubuya. The third piece featured gamelan performers Djoko Walujo, I Nyoman Wenten, Nanik Wenten, Alex Khalil, Wie-Ju-Hua, Chris Smith, Alyse Korn, and Loren Nerell with an Indonesian piece arranged by Omid C. Burgin-Esmai'li called Orde Baru. The concert concluded with Zaman Suite, composed by Ali Jihad Racy, featuring Racy and UCLA performers Souhael Kaspar, David Markowitz, Paulette Gershen, Barbara Racy and Ergun Tamer.

Kronos returned for a second residency in Spring of 1995. On May 12th they performed a noon concert featuring a diverse assortment of world music by composers from Africa, Japan and the U.S. Two graduate student arrangements of traditional music were performed: Cantu a Ballu Seriu, a Sardinian dance arranged by Roberto Catalano and Sinawi Music, Korean shamanistic music arranged by Omid C. Burgin-Esmai'l