Arlene Sierra

Sierra studied at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Yale University School of Music and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, receiving a DMA in 1999; her principal teachers were Martin Bresnick, Michael Daugherty and Jacob Druckman. A composition fellow at the Britten-Pears School (Aldeburgh Festival) in 2000 and Tanglewood in 2001, teachers included Louis Andriessen, Magnus Lindberg, and Colin Matthews. She also worked with Judith Weir at the Dartington International Summer School in 1999, Paul-Heinz Dittrich in Berlin in 1997-8, and Betsy Jolas at The American Conservatory of Fontainebleau Schools in 1993.{{Cite web|url=https://www.arlenesierra.com/biography/biography.html|title=Arlene Sierra {{!}} London-based American composer {{!}} Biography|website=www.arlenesierra.com|access-date=2020-03-25}}

Sierra's music has been commissioned by organizations including the Seattle Symphony,The Seattle Symphony and Music Director Ludovic Morlot Announce 2012–2013 Season {{cite press release|url=http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/press/kit/release_detail.aspx?ID%3D888 |title=Press release|accessdate=2012-03-11 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120526151329/http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/press/kit/release_detail.aspx?ID=888 |archivedate=2012-05-26 }} Tanglewood Music Festival,Oestreich, James, A First and a Finale, Along With A Birthday, The New York Times 23 July 2002 [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/23/arts/tanglewood-review-a-first-and-a-finale-along-with-a-birthday.html?pagewanted=1] the New York Philharmonic,Rogers, Madeline, Contact! – Present at the Creation [http://www.playbillarts.com/features/article/8248.html], Playbill, 16 Dec 2009 the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival,Fanning, David, Paean to a Great Dane,[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3586310/Paean-to-a-great-Dane.html], The Daily Telegraph, 27 Nov 2002 the Albany Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Cheltenham International Festival, the Jerome, PRS and Cheswatyr Foundations, and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. Performers of her work have included New York City Opera VOX, the London Sinfonietta, International Contemporary Ensemble, the Boston Symphony, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the Tokyo Philharmonic.

In 2001, she was the first woman to win the Takemitsu Prize;[http://www.operacity.jp/en/concert/award/schedule/01_knussen.php Takemitsu Award results, 2001] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123195203/http://www.operacity.jp/en/concert/award/schedule/01_knussen.php |date=November 23, 2010 }} in 2007 she received a Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters[http://www.artsandletters.org/press_releases/2007music.php American Academy of Arts and Letters Press Release, Music, 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617061311/http://www.artsandletters.org/press_releases/2007music.php|date=2011-06-17}} with a citation for music, "by turns, urgent, poetic, evocative and witty." In 2011, a debut CD of chamber music was released by Bridge Records: Arlene Sierra, Volume 1Quinn, Michael, Bridge Records to launch series dedicated to music by Arlene Sierra, TheClassicalReview.com, 5 April 2011 [http://theclassicalreview.com/cds-dvds/2011/04/bridge-records-to-launch-series-dedicated-to-music-by-arlene-sierra] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724045722/http://theclassicalreview.com/cds-dvds/2011/04/bridge-records-to-launch-series-dedicated-to-music-by-arlene-sierra/ |date=24 July 2012 }}Clements, Andrew, Sierra: Cicada Shell; Birds and Insects Book 1; Surrounded Ground, etc – review, The Guardian, 14 July 2011 [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jul/14/sierra-cicada-shell-review] and she was named Composer of the Year by the Classical Recording Foundation.{{cite web |title=Classical Recording Foundation Honors Robert Paterson and Arlene Sierra with Composer of the Year Awards |url=https://www.ascap.com/playback/2011/11/faces-places/concert/composer-of-the-year-11 |website=www.ascap.com |date=November 23, 2011}} A second CD, Game of Attrition: Arlene Sierra, Vol. 2, was released in 2014 including four orchestral works recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Jac Van Steen, conductor.{{Cite news|last=Clements|first=Andrew|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/27/piano-concerto-art-of-war-arlene-sierra-review|title=Piano Concerto: Art of War; Game of Attrition; Aquilo; Moler review – game-theory, teeth-grinding and natural selection|date=2014-02-27|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-03-25|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} In the same year, Moler, an orchestral work commissioned by the Seattle Symphony, was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-latin-grammys-2014-nominations-winners-list-20140924-story.html|title=Latin Grammys 2014: Complete list of nominees and winners|date=2014-11-21|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}} Sierra's latest release on the Bridge label, Butterflies Remember a Mountain – Arlene Sierra, Vol. 3 (2018) is a chamber disc including performances by Nicola Benedetti, Leonard Elschenbroich, the Horszowski Trio, and Quattro Mani.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/reviews/review|title=Review|website=Gramophone|language=en|access-date=2020-03-25}} Sierra was Composer-in-Association with the Utah Symphony for the 2020-21 season.{{Cite web|url=https://usuo.org/news/press-releases/utah-symphony-2020-21-season/|title=Utah Symphony Announces 2020-21 Season|website=USUO|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-25}}

Sierra was a Composition Tutor at Cambridge University in 2003-4 before joining Cardiff University School of Music in 2004, where she is Professor of Composition.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/131227-sierra-arlene|title=Professor Arlene Sierra|last=|first=|last2=|date=|website=Cardiff University|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702090548/http://www.cardiff.ac.uk:80/people/view/131227-sierra-arlene |archive-date=2016-07-02 |access-date=2020-03-20|last3=|last4=|first4=|last5=|first5=|last6=|first6=|last7=|last8=|last9=|first9=}}

Her music is published by Cecilian Music (ASCAP).

Sierra's compositions are rooted in early training in classical piano and in electronic music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.Oberlin Composers – Making it New [http://oberlin.edu/con/connews/2009-10/making.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018231845/http://www2.oberlin.edu/con/connews/2009-10/making.htm |date=18 October 2019 }} (2009/10) Oberlin Conservatory.

Sierra's earlier works have their origins in military strategy and game theory, with literary sources including Vitruvius and Sun Tzu, notably: Ballistae (2000) for large ensemble and Surrounded Ground (2008) for sextet,{{Cite news|last=Schweitzer|first=Vivien|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/arts/music/17sier.html|title=Odes, Bees and Battles in Textured Sounds|date=2009-03-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-03-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} as well as Art of War (2010), a concerto for piano and orchestra.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsounds.org/story/game-attrition-arlene-sierra-vol-2/|title=Arlene Sierra Explores Darwin, Warfare and Chinese Philosophy {{!}} New Sounds {{!}} Hand-picked music, genre free|website=newsounds|language=en|access-date=2020-03-26}}

Many of Sierra's works are inspired by bird song, insect calls, and sounds and processes from the natural world, including Butterflies Remember a Mountain (2013), a piano trio which was inspired by a peculiar detour in the annual mass migration of monarch butterflies. This trio was the starting point for Nature Symphony (Sierra) (2017) commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic and BBC Radio 3.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rhinegold.co.uk/classical_music/premieres-novembers-new-music-2/|title=Premieres: November's new music|website=Rhinegold|language=en|access-date=2020-03-26}} Other works that employ natural sounds and processes include Cicada Shell (2006) for ensemble, Birds and Insects, Books 1, 2, and 3 (2007, 2018, 2023) for piano solo, Insects in Amber (2010) for string quartet, and Urban Birds (2014) for three pianos with percussion and electronics.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-22485231|title=Birdsong piece wins £20,000 fund|date=2013-05-12|work=BBC News|access-date=2020-03-26|language=en-GB}}

These two interests – nature and military strategy – are both evident in her 2009 orchestral work Game of Attrition which takes its structure from processes described by Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species.{{Cite web|url=http://www.naturemusicpoetry.com/1/post/2015/09/unflinching-depictions-of-nature.html|title=Unflinching depictions of nature|website=Natural light|language=en|access-date=2020-03-26}} Larger-scale works along these lines followed, including Nature Symphony (Sierra) and the 2022 work Bird Symphony, a commission from the Utah Symphony, which creates a large-scale four-movement structure using transcriptions of bird song.{{Cite web|url=https://utahartsreview.com/2022/04/sierras-bird-symphony-soars-in-a-rich-utah-symphony-program/|title=Sierra's "Bird Symphony" soars in a rich Utah Symphony program|date=2022-04-16|website=The Classical Review|language=en-US|access-date=2024-11-10}} Kiskadee, an orchestral work from 2023 commissioned by the Detroit Symphony, features the calls of two birds that compete for territory in nature, taking this interaction as a source for the structure of the work.{{Cite web|url=https://americanorchestras.org/person/arlene-sierra/|title=League of American Orchestras - Arlene Sierra|language=en-US|access-date=2024-11-10}}{{Cite web|url=https://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2024/02/illinois-philharmonic-chen-serve-up-high-stepping-gershwin-and-a-sierra-premiere-takes-flight/|title=Illinois Philharmonic serves up high-stepping Gershwin and a Sierra premiere takes flight|date=2024-02-25|website=Chicago Classical Review|language=en-US|access-date=2024-11-10}}

Sierra has demonstrated an interest in dramatic and stage works centered on women protagonists, in scenarios ranging from Faust in the opera Faustine{{Cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/vox-contemporary-american-opera-lab-exploring-the-future-of-opera|title=VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab: Exploring the Future of Opera|last=Filipski|first=Kevin|date=2011-03-12|website=Playbill|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200326205421/https://www.playbill.com/article/vox-contemporary-american-opera-lab-exploring-the-future-of-opera |archive-date=2020-03-26 |access-date=2020-03-26}} to human trafficking in the collaborative chamber opera Cuatro Corridos.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-cuatro-corridos-at-zipper-concert-hall--20140806-column.html|title=Critic's Pick: Unflinching 'Cuatro Corridos' opera comes to Zipper Concert Hall|date=2014-08-07|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-26}} Since 2012, she has been working on a series of original scores to films by Maya Deren for a variety of chamber ensembles, including Meditation on Violence{{Cite news|last=Clements|first=Andrew|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/oct/24/lontano-de-la-martinez-review|title=Lontano/De la Martinez – review|date=2012-10-24|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-03-26|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} and Ritual in Transfigured Time.{{Cite web|url=http://thecuspmagazine.com/reviews/ritual-in-transfigured-time-review/|title=Ritual in Transfigured Time {{!}} REVIEW|date=2016-10-07|website=The Cusp Magazine|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-03-26}}

• List of compositions by Arlene Sierra

• [https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/contemporary-composer-arlene-sierra 'Contemporary Composer: Arlene Sierra'] Whitehouse, Richard, Gramophone, Published July 2024
• [http://www.nytheatre-wire.com/mh18061t.htm 'A Meeting of Strategic Minds: Arlene Sierra's music scores Susan Vencl's dance'] Hanover, Muriel, New York Theatre Wire / News Blaze, Published Spring 2018
• [http://www.naturemusicpoetry.com/news-and-blog/unflinching-depictions-of-nature/ 'Unflinching Depictions of Nature – A Conversation with Arlene Sierra] Natural Light, Published September 7, 2015
• [http://www.sinfinimusic.com/uk/features/interviews/composer-interviews/arlene-sierra?ai=37249/ 'Ten Questions to Arlene Sierra'] Sinfini Music, Published April 29, 2014
• [http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/arlene-sierra-the-evolution-of-process/ 'The Evolution of Process'] Gardner, Alexandra, New Music Box Published: May 1, 2013
• [https://www.arlenesierra.com/docs/SIERRAfanfareinterview.pdf 'Composer Arlene Sierra: Process, Strategy, Evolution'] Schulslaper, Robert, Fanfare (magazine) Published: October 13, 2011
• [http://www.compositiontoday.com/interviews/arlene_sierra.asp 'CompositionToday: Arlene Sierra Interview'] Published: November 24, 2009
• [https://archive.today/20130415152418/http://www.newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=6223 'Contact – by Arlene Sierra'] NewMusicBox Published: December 16, 2009

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.arlenesierra.com Arlene Sierra, Official Site]
• [http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/131227-sierra-arlene Arlene Sierra, Cardiff University School of Music]

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Category:20th-century American classical composers

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Category:British classical composers

Category:Living people

Category:University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni

Category:20th-century British composers

Category:21st-century British composers

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:20th-century American women composers

Category:21st-century American women composers