Roberto Sierra
Encyclopedia
Roberto Sierra is a composer of contemporary classical music.
Sierra studied composition in Europe, notably with György Ligeti
in Hamburg, Germany. After his two-act opera El mensajero de plata, to a libretto by Myrna Casas, had premiered at the Interamerican Festival in San Juan on 9 October 1986, Sierra came to prominence in 1987 when his first major orchestral composition, Júbilo, was performed at Carnegie Hall
by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
. (Júbilo had been premiered in Puerto Rico in 1985 by the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra conducted by Zdeněk Mácal
; it was also performed in 1986 by the same forces conducted by Akira Endo
.) Since then, his works have been performed by the orchestras of San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, San Antonio, and Phoenix, by the American Composers Orchestra
, the National Symphony Orchestra (United States), the Kronos Quartet
, Continuum, England's BBC Symphony, and at Wolf Trap
, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
, Festival Casals of Puerto Rico, France's Festival de Lille, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
, and Germany's Neue Musik Bonn.
On February 2, 2006 Sierra's Missa Latina
, premiered at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C.
, conducted by Leonard Slatkin
to considerable acclaim. The Washington Times judged it "the most significant symphonic premiere in the District since the late Benjamin Britten's stunning War Requiem was first performed in the still-unfinished Washington National Cathedral in the late 1960s."http://www.robertosierra.com/Reviews.pdf On March 3, 2007, the Missa Latina was performed at the 51st Casals Festival
in Sierra's homeland, Puerto Rico
, where it was equally well received.
Sierra's Concierto Barroco takes its inspiration from a scene in Alejo Carpentier
's novel of the same in which Handel and Vivaldi jam with a Cuban slave during the Venice Carnival. Sierra was commissioned by guitarist Manuel Barrueco
to write a concerto that tried to capture what that might have been like. Eladio Scharron commented on Soundboard: "Sierra achieved - masterfully - a synthesis of a tradition of five centuries old... This work is truly a masterwork..."
Sierra is a professor at Cornell University
in Ithaca, New York
, where he teaches composition
. His notable students include Marc Mellits
.
Sierra studied composition in Europe, notably with György Ligeti
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
in Hamburg, Germany. After his two-act opera El mensajero de plata, to a libretto by Myrna Casas, had premiered at the Interamerican Festival in San Juan on 9 October 1986, Sierra came to prominence in 1987 when his first major orchestral composition, Júbilo, was performed at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its primary performing venue is the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts...
. (Júbilo had been premiered in Puerto Rico in 1985 by the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra conducted by Zdeněk Mácal
Zdenek Mácal
Zdeněk Mácal is a Czech conductor.Mácal began violin lessons with his father at age four. He later attended the Brno Conservatory and the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts, where he graduated in 1960 with top honors. He became principal conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and...
; it was also performed in 1986 by the same forces conducted by Akira Endo
Akira Endo (conductor)
Akira Endo is a Japanese-American conductor and music educator. He studied violin and conducting at the University of Southern California where he earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree....
.) Since then, his works have been performed by the orchestras of San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, San Antonio, and Phoenix, by 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 National Symphony Orchestra (United States), the Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...
, Continuum, England's BBC Symphony, and at Wolf Trap
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, known locally in the Washington, D.C. area as simply Wolf Trap, is a performing arts center located on 130 acres of national park land in Wolf Trap, Virginia...
, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival is a six week long summer Festival of chamber music held annually in July and August and located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was founded in 1972 and presented its first series of concerts in 1973. Well-known musicians and young performers appear each season in...
, Festival Casals of Puerto Rico, France's Festival de Lille, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival is a classical music festival held every year in summer time all over the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany....
, and Germany's Neue Musik Bonn.
On February 2, 2006 Sierra's Missa Latina
Missa Latina
Missa Latina is a classical music composition written by the Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra. The work was written for SATB chorus with two soloists , and a symphonic orchestra. It was co-commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and The Choral Arts Society of Washington and was written...
, premiered at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, conducted by Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
to considerable acclaim. The Washington Times judged it "the most significant symphonic premiere in the District since the late Benjamin Britten's stunning War Requiem was first performed in the still-unfinished Washington National Cathedral in the late 1960s."http://www.robertosierra.com/Reviews.pdf On March 3, 2007, the Missa Latina was performed at the 51st Casals Festival
Casals Festival
The Casals Festival is a classical music event celebrated every year in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in honor of world renowned musician Pablo Casals.-Background:...
in Sierra's homeland, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, where it was equally well received.
Sierra's Concierto Barroco takes its inspiration from a scene in Alejo Carpentier
Alejo Carpentier
Alejo Carpentier y Valmont was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Carpentier grew up in Havana, Cuba; and despite his European birthplace, Carpentier strongly self-identified...
's novel of the same in which Handel and Vivaldi jam with a Cuban slave during the Venice Carnival. Sierra was commissioned by guitarist Manuel Barrueco
Manuel Barrueco
Manuel Barrueco is a Cuban virtuoso classical guitarist. He was born in 1952 in Santiago de Cuba, on Cuba's southeastern shore. He has toured in the U.S., Europe and Japan, and serves on the faculty of Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland.-Biography:...
to write a concerto that tried to capture what that might have been like. Eladio Scharron commented on Soundboard: "Sierra achieved - masterfully - a synthesis of a tradition of five centuries old... This work is truly a masterwork..."
Sierra is a professor at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
, where he teaches composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
. His notable students include Marc Mellits
Marc Mellits
Marc Mellits is an American composer and musician.Mellits was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He studied at the Eastman School of Music from 1984 to 1988, the Yale School of Music from 1989 to 1991, Cornell University from 1991 to 1996, and at Tanglewood in the summer of 1997...
.
Orchestral
- Bayoán (oratorio for Soprano, Baritone and Orchestra)
- Concerto for Saxophones and Orchestra
- Concierto Barroco concerto for Guitar and Orchestra
- Concierto Caribe concerto for Flute and Orchestra
- Concierto para orquesta
- Doble Concierto concerto for violin, viola and Orchestra
- Folias concerto for Guitar and Orchestra
- Missa LatinaMissa LatinaMissa Latina is a classical music composition written by the Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra. The work was written for SATB chorus with two soloists , and a symphonic orchestra. It was co-commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and The Choral Arts Society of Washington and was written...
for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus and Orchestra - Of Discoveries concerto for two Guitars and Orchestra
- "Con madera, metal y cuero" for percussion soloist and orchestra
- Symphonies Nos. 1-3
- Sinfonía No. 4, premiere 1 October 2009 Nashville Symphony/Giancarlo Guerrero
Chamber Orchestra
- Doce Bagatelas for String Orchestra
- El éxtasis de Santa Teresa for soprano and Chamber Orchestra
- Concerto for Viola with string orchestra and 2 percussionists
Chamber Music
- Doce Bagatelas for string quartet
- El mensajero de plata (chamber Opera)
- Sonata for Cello and Piano
- Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
- Sonata for Flute and Piano
- Triptico for Guitar and String Quartet
Solo Works
- Piezas Breves for Guitar
- Piezas Imaginarias for Piano
- Ritmorroto for Clarinet
External links
- Roberto Sierra official composer site
- Cornell University Department of Music faculty page
- Subito Music Online Store index of published works
- Art of the States: Roberto Sierra two works in streaming audio