Arlene Sierra
Encyclopedia
Arlene Sierra is an American composer working in the United Kingdom.

She studied at Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...

, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, receiving a DMA in 1999; among her principal teachers were Martin Bresnick
Martin Bresnick
Martin Bresnick is a composer of contemporary classical music, film scores and experimental music.-Education and early career:Bresnick was born and raised in the Bronx, and is a graduate of New York City's specialized High School of Music and Art. He was educated at the University of Hartford ,...

, Michael Daugherty
Michael Daugherty
Michael Kevin Daugherty is an American composer, pianist, and teacher. Influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism, Daugherty is one of the most colorful and widely performed American concert music composers of his generation...

 and Jacob Druckman
Jacob Druckman
Jacob Druckman was an American composer born in Philadelphia. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood and later continued his studies at the École Normale de...

. A composition fellow at the Britten-Pears School (Aldeburgh Festival
Aldeburgh Festival
The Aldeburgh Festival is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on the main concert hall at Snape Maltings...

) in 2000 and Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...

 in 2001, teachers included Louis Andriessen
Louis Andriessen
Louis Andriessen is a Dutch composer and pianist based in Amsterdam. He teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...

, Oliver Knussen
Oliver Knussen
Oliver Knussen CBE is a British composer and conductor.-Biography:Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra. Oliver Knussen studied composition with John Lambert, between 1963 and 1969 and also received...

, Magnus Lindberg
Magnus Lindberg
Magnus Lindberg is a Finnish composer and pianist. He is currently the composer-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic.-Education:...

, and Colin Matthews
Colin Matthews
Colin Matthews OBE is an English composer of classical music.-Early life and education:Matthews was born in London in 1946; his older brother is the composer David Matthews. He read classics at the University of Nottingham, and then studied composition there with Arnold Whittall, and with Nicholas...

. She also worked with Judith Weir
Judith Weir
Judith Weir CBE, is a British composer.-Biography:Her music has been appreciated by audiences and critics alike. She trained with John Tavener while still at school and subsequently with Robin Holloway at King's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1976...

 at the Dartington International Summer School in 1999 and Betsy Jolas
Betsy Jolas
Betsy Jolas is a French composer.Betsy Jolas was born in Paris. Resident in the United States from 1940 until 1946, she studied composition with Paul Boepple and piano with Helen Schnabel. On her return to France she continued her studies with Simone Plé-Caussade, Darius Milhaud and Olivier...

 and Dominique Troncin at The American Conservatory of Fontainebleau Schools
Fontainebleau Schools
The Fontainebleau Schools started in 1921 with the involvement of the United States in the First World War. At the instigation of General Pershing—who wished to improve the quality of US military band music—Walter Damrosch, then conductor of the New York Philharmonic, was asked to organize a...

 in 1993.

Her music has been commissioned by organizations including the Tanglewood Music Festival
Tanglewood Music Festival
The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts....

, the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...

, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is held in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has a repertoire of cutting-edge jazz, orchestral, choral and electroacoustic performances, along with film, dance and music theatre...

, the Albany Symphony, the Cheltenham International Festival, the Jerome, PRS
PRS
- Computers and telecommunication :* Procedural Reasoning System, an architecture for developing intelligent agents* Premium Rate Service, internationally available telephone-based premium services....

 and Cheswatyr Foundations, and the Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...

 Trust. Performers of her work have included New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...

 VOX, the American Composers Orchestra
American Composers Orchestra
The American Composers Orchestra is an American orchestra based in New York City. It is the only orchestra in the world dedicated solely to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American composers...

, the London Sinfonietta
London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...

, the New Music Players, Psappha
Psappha New Music Ensemble
Psappha New Music Ensemble is an ensemble of contemporary classical musicians based in the North West of England, specialised in the performance of works by living composers. Founded in 1991, Psappha takes its name from the composition of the same name by Greek modernist composer Iannis Xenakis...

, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Chroma, the Schubert Ensemble, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisation in Wales, occupying a dual role as both a broadcasting orchestra and national orchestra.The BBC NOW has its...

, and the Tokyo Philharmonic. In 2001, she was the first woman to win the Takemitsu Prize; in 2007 she received a Charles Ives Fellowship
Charles Ives Prize
The Charles Ives Prize is a scholarship for young composers, awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters: scholarships of $7500, and fellowships of $15,000....

 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters with a citation for music, "by turns, urgent, poetic, evocative and witty." In 2011, a debut CD was released by Bridge Records: Arlene Sierra, Volume 1 and she was named Composer of the Year by the Classical Recording Foundation.

Sierra was a Composition Tutor at Cambridge University in 2003-4 before joining Cardiff University School of Music
Cardiff University School of Music
Cardiff University School of Music is home to about 240 undergraduate and 40 postgraduate students. It was one of the first departments established when Cardiff University was granted its Royal Charter in 1883. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, 70% of the School’s research was judged to be...

 as Lecturer in Composition in 2004. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer and became Programme Director of music composition at Cardiff in 2010. She lives in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and is married to British composer Kenneth Hesketh
Kenneth Hesketh
Kenneth Hesketh is a British composer of contemporary classical music in numerous genres including opera, orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo...

.

Her music is published exclusively by Cecilian Music (ASCAP).

Compositions

Arlene Sierra's works include the following:
  • Faustine Opera in one act for Five Singers and Orchestra (2011-)
  • Art of War Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2010)
  • Insects in Amber String Quartet (2010)
  • Game of Attrition for Chamber Orchestra (2009)
  • Colmena for 14 Players (2008)
  • Surrounded Ground for Sextet (2008)
  • Hearing Things for Soprano and Piano (2008)
  • Streets and Rivers for Baritone and Piano (2007)
  • Birds and Insects, Book 1 Piano Solo (2007)
  • Cicada Shell for Septet (2006)
  • The Art of Lightness Flute Solo (2006)
  • A Conflict of Opposites for Violin or Clarinet and Piano (2005)
  • Neruda Settings for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble (2002-5)
  • Two Neruda Odes for Soprano, Cello and Piano (2004)
  • Truel for Piano Trio or Clarinet Trio (2004)
  • Counting-Out Rhyme for Cello and Piano (2002)
  • Tiffany Windows for 12 players (2002)
  • Hand Mit Ringen for Soprano and Trio (2002)
  • Aquilo for Orchestra (2001)
  • Alike Dissolving for SATB, Children's Choir and String Orchestra (2001)
  • Ballistae for 13 Players (2000)
  • Alleluya (Bitter-Sweet) for four men's voices or SATB Chorus (2000)
  • Harrow-Lines for Quintet (1999)
  • Two Etudes After Mantegna Cello Solo (1998)
  • of Risk and Memory for Two Pianos (1997)
  • Three Descriptions for Soprano and Piano (1997)
  • Dedication and Dance Trombone Concerto for Orchestra or Symphonic Winds (1994, revised 2003)
  • Four Love Songs for Viola and Piano (1993)
  • Duo for Violoncelli (1993)

Articles and interviews


External links


Footnotes

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK