biography

An American composer based in London, Arlene Sierra is acclaimed for vivid, darkly energetic works that take their impetus from rich sources including military strategy, Darwinian evolution, and game theory. The Guardian writes, “her work has its own character, in which historical and contemporary influences are fused into a highly flexible and distinctive style”, while Time Out New York describes Sierra’s music as “spry, savage, sly and seductive.” Her work has been performed by the New York Philharmonic, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the London Sinfonietta, New York City Opera VOX, ICE, Psappha, Lontano, Collage New Music, the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Schubert Ensemble, the Peabody Trio, the Fidelio Trio, and many others. Recent and upcoming premieres include a piano concerto Art of War for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, a Cheltenham Festival commission Insects in Amber for the Carducci Quartet, and a Seattle Symphony commission Moler.

Born in Miami to a family of New Yorkers, Arlene Sierra is a graduate of Oberlin (B.A., B.Mus.), Yale (M.Mus.) and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (D.Mus.). She earned degrees in East Asian Studies and Electronic Music before commencing full-time composition study at Yale. Her principal teachers were Martin Bresnick, Michael Daugherty and Jacob Druckman; at Fontainebleau she studied with Betsy Jolas and Dominique Troncin, and she worked with Paul Heinz Dittrich in Berlin. As a fellow at Tanglewood, Aldeburgh, and Dartington she studied with Louis Andriessen, Magnus Lindberg, Colin Matthews, and Judith Weir.

Sierra gained international recognition with her first orchestral work, Aquilo, which was awarded the 2001 Takemitsu Prize at the behest of Oliver Knussen. Subsequent awards have included Classical Recording Foundation Composer of the Year (2011), a Performing Right Society Foundation ‘Women Make Music’ commission (2011), a Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2007), a Tanglewood Paul Jacobs Award commission (2002), and numerous fellowships including Aspen, Aldeburgh Britten-Pears, and the MacDowell Colony. She has had the honor of a Composer Portrait concert at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, New York (2009) and a Showcase portrait concert at the Crush Room, Royal Opera House, London (2007).

Important commissions include Game of Attrition – New York Philharmonic, Tiffany Windows – Albany Symphony, Neruda Settings – Tanglewood Paul Jacobs commission, Hand mit Ringen – Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Truel I – Meet the Composer at the Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, Counting-Out Rhyme – Pur Oder Plus Festival, Hamburg, A Conflict of Opposites – Fenton Arts Trust at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust commissions Cicada Shell for the New Music Players and Streets and Rivers for baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, Surrounded Ground – Chroma and the PRS Foundation, and Colmena – a Miller Theatre-Cheswatyr Foundation commission for the International Contemporary Ensemble. A major work for the Anita Cheng Dance Company, Truel (Complete), has had several performances at the Danspace Series of contemporary choreography in New York City, and a solo piano album Birds and Insects, Book I has had numerous international performances and featured as a test piece in the British Contemporary Piano Competition.

Her debut CD with Bridge Records, Arlene Sierra, Vol. 1, is the first of a new series focusing on Sierra’s work. Released in 2011, Arlene Sierra, Vol. 1 has received critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, including a feature on NPR Classical which described “...an intriguing new album of pieces... [It] possesses a remarkable brilliance of color, rhythmic dexterity and playfulness.” Arlene Sierra, Vol. 2 is planned for release in 2013 and will include world premiere recordings of major orchestral works Aquilo, Game of Attrition and Art of War performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Jac Van Steen.

Sierra's opera-in-progress Faustine has been developed with support from Aldeburgh Young Artist Residencies, ROH2 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the New Music USA Composer Assistance Program. Scenes from Faustine were showcased by New York City Opera at VOX 2011 and acclaimed by Musical America as “the most musically adventurous, tightly constructed and dramatically sound of the works-in-progress on offer.” Faustine was also selected for the 2011/12 Center for Contemporary Opera Development Series funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, as a featured work of Opera America’s New Works Forum.

Dr Sierra is Senior Lecturer and Programme Director in Composition at Cardiff University School of Music. Guest professorships, presentations and master classes include Eastman School of Music, Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea), Cambridge University, Kings College London, Kingston University and Bristol University, among others.

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