珍妮特郭伯伟21岁,San Francisco State University, working in a bookstore, when the proprietor told her about a local string quartet that was looking for a part-time employee to help out around the office. She figured it would be a good way to pick up a little extra cash while she finished her degree in communications and journalism.
取而代之的是，这边演出变成了40年的职业生涯，它使Kronos四重奏 - Cowperthwaite担任该团体的非营利组织的经理和执行董事 - 转向了当代音乐世界的最前沿。
Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
“办公室是一家餐厅上方的一个房间，” Cowperthwaite在最近接受《纪事报》采访时回忆道。“有一张桌子，一部手机，带有一排按钮，一堆文件和一个装满地址卡和邮件列表的大盒子。
“小组发现我正在研究新闻业，所以他们说，‘也许你可以写新闻稿。’我说，‘是的，我想我可以做到。’”
那些艰难的预算和临时责任（包括四重奏成员，根据需要）的所有人 - 现在已经很久了。克罗诺斯（Kronos）已成为新的音乐司令，拥有超过1,000份委员会作品的目录和包括60多种项目的唱片。该小组在国际上旅行，并与大量作曲家，设计师，视觉艺术家等合作。它的250万美元的年度运营预算使一开始有100,000美元的$ 100,000。
Participants and observers agree that the reason the project grew with such assurance, and now operates so smoothly, is Cowperthwaite’s combination of insight, commitment and generosity.
“Here was this radical project — a string quartet focused only on contemporary music — for which there was no existing model,” said Jenny Bilfield, president and CEO of Washington Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. “Janet, in her steady and visionary way, created a business model that would make it not only work, but also thrive and grow.
“该国几乎每个当代音乐合奏都希望珍妮特了解如何使这项工作。”
本周的Kronos音乐节是一项为期三天的活动，计划于4月7日星期四在Sfjazz Center举行，由长号手和作曲家Jacob Garchik担任居住地，包括向Cowperthwaite与该小组的任期致敬。开幕式计划定于包括“珍妮”的世界首映，这是马里·格里奥特（Malian Griot）歌手HawaKasséMadyDiabaté为此委托的庆祝活动。
四重奏的创始人，第一小提琴家和艺术总监戴维·哈灵顿（David Harrington）说：“与珍妮特（Janet）合作的事情是她的一致性，正直和诚实。”“当我们与一位作曲家一起工作时，我们可以为之骄傲的是，对每个合作者的考虑。
“Having the administration led by Janet allows us to do the work we do and really be able to concentrate on it.”
At 61, Cowperthwaite is an influential figure in the world of the performing arts, a frequent presence on panels and a board member of such organizations as the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. But that experience accumulated over long years of learning her way around the business. She recalls, in spite of her best efforts, early visits to performing arts conferences where she stationed part of a booth on Kronos’ behalf in the corner of a convention center.
Still, Cowperthwaite’s can-do approach, and her energy in tackling a range of logistical and artistic challenges, have positioned her to help guide comparable ensembles through the early phases of their careers.
“I definitely talk to younger groups that are doing all the admin work themselves, just like Kronos did,” she said, “and I ask them, ‘When it gets too busy, what is the thing you know that只有你can do? Because then you can peel off the other tasks and give them to someone else.’ There’s always the chance that the person you bring in to do the administrative work might be better at it than the artists!”
众所周知，Cowperthwaite对Kronos承诺的贡献是艺术和后勤的结合。她笑着承认，她是组织中唯一无法阅读音乐的人 - 即使是办公室的温度，现在通常是音乐专业的学生希望闯入该领域。然而，她与各自四重奏委员会的每位作曲家紧密合作，并且通常是经纪艺术合作的关键参与者。
她说：“我的技能之一是作为媒人。”“David always has a long list of ideas — way more than anyone could do, which is a great problem to have — and then I’m the one who’s talking with the places where we could perform, or trying to find a donor who’d be interested in that commission.”
旧金山作曲家丹尼·克莱（Danny Clay）与克罗诺斯（Kronos）一起从事多个项目，他说，考普斯维特（Cowperthwaite）是在创造性自由和生产限制之间取得平衡的人。
“Janet has this incredible talent for encouraging artistic growth and development, while also being totally rooted in the practicality of what it takes to bring a work to life,” Clay said. “She makes the logistics into an empowering artistic challenge instead of a burden.”
Like a casting agent, Cowperthwaite also has a knack for knowing which artists would be optimal partners for which projects. Clay recalls a time in 2018 when Cowperthwaite reached out to see whether he was free to take a two-day trip to record ambient sounds at an amusement park in China for a project that wound up being shelved.
他说：“她只是说，‘这个项目出现了，我为你想了。’“这种体贴和信仰，以及与像我这样的新兴作曲家冒险的意愿，意义重大。”
Cowperthwaite的音乐品味远非当代音乐世界，甚至是任何形式的古典音乐。她在南湾长大，是英国父母的女儿，她早年参加了在戴利市的牛宫举行的摇滚音乐会。她的音乐兴趣由甲壳虫乐队主导。弦乐四重奏对她没有任何意义，只有“埃莉诺·里格比”和燕尾服的四位闷热的音乐家。
她说：“我对此是合适的人，因为我对古典音乐家的典型情况或他们的表现方式没有任何期望。”“我记得当我参加另一场弦乐四重奏音乐会，灯光一直持续到时感到惊讶，因为在我习惯的音乐会上，演出开始时灯光下降。
“I think Kronos was inclined to go in those directions already. But it was a good match because I wasn’t saying, ‘No, this is the way things are supposed to be done.'”
How long does Cowperthwaite plan to remain in her role?
她回答说：“好吧，我们将看到宇宙为我存储什么。”“目前，我们正在计划在2023 - 24年四重奏成立50周年，所以我的思考并不多。”
尽管她很快指出，没有人是不可替代的，但是克罗诺斯在没有Cowperthwaite的情况下运作的想法实际上是不可想象的。该小组的艺术成就，尤其是其对弦乐四重奏可能是什么想法的扩展，这在很大程度上取决于Cowperthwaite的贡献，其中许多在幕后。
比菲尔德说：“她不仅是一个工作的人。”“她完全是该小组的第五名成员。正确地说，这是克罗诺斯五重奏。”
Kronos Festival:7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, April 7-9. $20-$65. SFJazz Center, 201 Franklin St., S.F. 866-920-5299.www.sfjazz.org