When David Krakauer and the Kronos Quartet first met in San Francisco in 1996, they cemented their friendship while recording Osvaldo Golijov’s “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind.” The blending of the avant garde strings and the klezmer-flavored clarinet elicited rave reviews. The partnership thrives anew as Krakauer joins the Kronos Quartet for the premiere of “Babylon, Our Own” by Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov. The work is a commission by the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center where the chamber quartet are artists-in-residence this season.

“I had heard some of Aleksandra’s music played by a student quartet attending a Kronos workshop at Carnegie Hall,” Krakauer said. “Shortly after that, David Harrington (Kronos violinist) called to say they’d like to work together again. I immediately suggested collaborating with Aleksandra.