Professor Arlene Sierra

(she/her)

BA, BMus (Oberlin), MMus (Yale), DMA (Michigan, Ann Arbor)

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

Current projects include Birds and Insects, Book 3, commissioned by the Barbican Centre for pianist Sarah Cahill, and Kiskadee, a Toulmin Foundation commission for the Detroit Symphony with further scheduled performances with the Dallas, Illinois, Louisiana, and Wheeling Symphonies.

Many of my works form part of two extant series of thematically-linked pieces for varying instrumentations ranging from solo to orchestra: The first is a Darwinian series exploring aspects of nature including birdsong and insect calls – works include Nature Symphony, Game of Attrition, Insects in Amber, Cricket-Viol, Birds and Insects, Avian Mirrors, and Urban Birds. The second is a series of pieces employing concepts and interactions inspired by game theory and military strategy including works Art of War, Surrounded Ground, Truel, Art of Lightness, and Cicada Shell.

Teaching

At undergraduate level and postgraduate taught levels, I teach modules on composition, orchestration, and contemporary repertoire.

Biography

Arlene Sierra is a British-American composer whose music is lauded for its “highly flexible and distinctive style” (The Guardian), ranging from “exquisiteness and restrained power” to “combative and utterly compelling” (Gramophone). Her work has been commissioned and performed by the Albany, Alabama, Boston, Detroit, Seattle, and Utah Symphonies, New York Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, ensembles including Lontano, Psappha, Riot Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, Österreichisches Ensemble für neue Musik, Chroma, New Juilliard Ensemble, the Carducci, Daedalus, and Mivos Quartets, the Fidelio, Peabody, Bakken, and Horszowski Trios, and New York City Opera VOX. She has worked with conductors including Thierry Fischer, Andris Nelsons, Kevin John Edusei, Susanna Mälkki, Oliver Knussen, Jac Van Steen, Shiyeon Sung, Odaline de la Martinez, Jayce Ogren, Stefan Asbury, Grant Llewellyn, and Ludovic Morlot. Soloists include Claire Booth (soprano), Susan Narucki (soprano), Wendy Richman (viola), Zoe Martlew (cello), Robin Michael (cello), Rowland Sutherland (flute), Eric Lamb (flute), and pianists Sarah Cahill, Clare Hammond, Marilyn Nonken, Xenia Pestova, Kathleen Supové, and Huw Watkins. Her music has been performed at festivals including Aldeburgh, Aspen, Bowdoin, Cheltenham, Fontainebleau, Huddersfield, Dartington, and Tanglewood. 

Notable premieres include Nature Symphony “memorable for its creation of wonderful sounds from a large orchestra” (Bachtrack.com) commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and the BBC Philharmonic, Butterflies Remember a Mountain for the Benedetti-Elschenbroich-Grynyuk Trio, described as “precisely and joyously imagined” (The Times) and performed in venues including the Concertgebouw and the BBC Proms, and a New York Philharmonic commission for chamber orchestra Game of Attrition, described by Time Out as “at turns spry, savage, sly and seductive… so enrapturing.” Sierra’s highly individual works have been nominated and awarded on several occasions, including the Takemitsu Composition Prize (for the orchestral work Aquilo), a Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, PRS Composers Fund and Women Make Music awards, and a Leverhulme Research Fellowship. Her orchestral showpiece Moler was nominated for a Latin GRAMMY for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

Declared “a name to watch” by BBC Music Magazine, Sierra has been featured in portrait concerts at the Crush Room, Royal Opera House, London, the Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival, Vermont, Composers Now New York, and the Composer Portraits Series at NYC's Miller Theatre, among others. Her music is the subject of a series of portrait recordings by the esteemed Bridge Records label. Arlene Sierra, Vol. 1, recorded by the International Contemporary Ensemble, received rave reviews internationally and was featured by NPR Classical, which described its “remarkable brilliance of colour, rhythmic dexterity and playfulness.” The orchestral disc Game of Attrition: Arlene Sierra, Vol. 2 has been praised for “vividly scored, colorful works” by The New York Times and described by The Guardian as “remarkably sure-footed… quirky and individual” and “startlingly fresh and assured.” Gramophone Magazine has described Sierra’s most recent release Butterflies Remember a Mountain - Arlene Sierra, Vol. 3 as “a wonderful chamber music issue that enthrals from first bar to last.” Other labels representing Sierra’s work include NMC, New Focus Recordings, and Coviello Classics.

As Utah Symphony Composer-in-Association in 2021-2022, Arlene Sierra worked closely with musicians and the community, creating a new work for youth orchestra, Butterfly House, and her most recent large-scale statement for orchestra, Bird Symphony, to audience and critical acclaim. Recent projects include Birds and Insects, Book 3, commissioned by the Barbican Centre for pianist Sarah Cahill, and Kiskadee, a Toulmin Foundation commission for the Detroit Symphony with further scheduled performances with the Dallas, Illinois, Louisiana, and Wheeling Symphonies.

Born in Miami to a family of New Yorkers, Arlene Sierra holds degrees from Oberlin College-Conservatory (B.A./B.Mus), Yale School of Music (M.Mus), and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (D.Mus.) where she held a Merit Fellowship. Her principal teachers were Martin Bresnick, Michael Daugherty, and Jacob Druckman; she worked with Betsy Jolas and Dominique Troncin at Fontainebleau, and Paul-Heinz Dittrich in Berlin. At Tanglewood, Aldeburgh, and Dartington she studied with Louis Andriessen, Magnus Lindberg, Colin Matthews, and Judith Weir. An engaging speaker on composition and contemporary music, invited lectures and presentations include Oxford University, Cambridge University, New England Conservatory, Yale, Eastman, New York University, University of Michigan, Valencia Institute of Performing Arts (VIPA), Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, and Yonsei and Ewha Universities (South Korea). 

Recordings

• Butterflies Remember a Mountain - Arlene Sierra, Vol. 3. Benedetti-Elschenbroich-Grynyuk Trio, Horszowski Trio. (Bridge, 2018)
• Urban Birds, Xenia Pestova, Kathleen Supove, Sarah Nicolls. (NMC, 2014)
• Game of Attrition: Arlene Sierra, Vol. 2. BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Huw Watkins, piano, Jac van Steen, conductor. (Bridge, 2014)
• Arlene Sierra, Vol. 1. International Contemporary Ensemble, Susan Narucki, soprano, Jayce Ogren, conductor. (Bridge, 2011)
• Other works appear on New Focus Recordings and Coviello Classics

Honours and awards

• Leverhulme Research Fellowship, 2020
• PRS Composers Fund award, 2017
• Nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition (Moler for Symphony Orchestra), Latin GRAMMY Awards, 2014
• PRS Women Make Music award, 2012
• Composer of the Year, Classical Recording Foundation, 2011
• Charles Ives Fellowship, American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2007
• Paul Jacobs Award commission, Tanglewood Music Center, 2002
• Otto Eckstein Fellowship, Tanglewood Music Center, 2001
• 1st Prize, Toru Takemitsu Composition Award, Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation (Aquilo for Symphony Orchestra), 2001

Grants for commissions, performances, and recordings include American Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers, Britten-Pears Foundation, Copland Fund for Music, Ditson Fund, Hinrichsen Foundation, League of American Orchestras, National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA, New York State Council for the Arts, PRS Foundation, Society for Promotion of New Music, Vaughan Williams Foundation, Virginia Toulmin Foundation

Professional memberships

• Member, Performing Rights Society (2000 - present)
• Writer and Publisher Member, American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (1997 - present)

Academic positions

• 2016 - present, Reader/Professor, Cardiff University
• 2004 - 2015, Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, Cardiff University
• 2003 - 2004, Composition Tutor (UG and PGT), Cambridge University
• 1994 - 1999, Rackham Doctoral Fellow, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Speaking engagements

• BBC Radio Three
• Bangor University
• Bristol University
• Bowdoin International Music Festival
• Brigham Young University
• Cambridge University
• Cheltenham Composer Academy
• Cheltenham Festival
• Columbia University
• Donne Women in Music – Royal Albert Hall
• Eastman School of Music
• Ewha University, Seoul
• Freie Akademie der Künste Hamburg
• Institute of Musical Research
• Kings College London
• Kings Lynn Festival
• Kingston University
• League of American Orchestras
• Louise Blouin Institute, London
• Opera America New Works Forum
• Oxford University
• National Portrait Gallery, London
• New England Conservatory
• New York City Opera VOX
• New York University
• Southbank Centre
• ResonanceFM
• Royal Holloway, University of London
• University of California at San Diego
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Universität Mozarteum Salzburg
• University of Utah
• Walker Art Gallery, Minneapolis
• Wayne State University
• Westminster College
• WNYC Radio
• Yale School of Music
• Yellow Barn Festival
• Yonsei University, Seoul
• York University

Committees and reviewing

• 2023 - : Chair, Postgraduate Taught Board of Studies
• 2016 - 2022: AHRC Peer Review College 
• 2020 - 2021: AHRC-BBC Radio Diverse Composers Funding Panel 
• 2016 - 2020: Deputy Head of the School of Music
• 2012 - 2018: School of Music Rep, University and College Union
• 2012 - 2017: Executive Committee Member, University and College Union
• 2016 - 2017: Chair, Research Committee
• 2013 - 2015: Chair, Postgraduate Taught Board of Studies
• 2008 - 2012: Chair, Concert Committee

External Examining

• Bristol University
• Goldsmith’s College, University of London
• Kings College London
• Oxford University
• Royal College of Music
• Royal Holloway, University of London
• University of Melbourne
• University of Salford

Composition Prize Judging

• British Composer Awards (Opera and Chamber Music categories)
• Cardiff University (Alumni Composition Competition)
• Ivan Juritz Prize
• Sejong Composition Prize
• Society for Promotion of New Music

Supervisions

I supervise doctoral students working on composition projects ranging from solo and chamber music to large-scale symphonic and stage works, with and without the incorporation of electronic media. Enquiries from prospective candidates are welcome.

Current supervision

Laura Shipsey

Research student

Chao Xie

Research student

Annabelle Whitcombe

Research student

John Cooney

Research student

Qiaochu Liu

Research student