Arlene Sierra: Women Make Music

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 decribes Sierra’s music as “spry, savage, sly and seductive.” Her work has been heard worldwide in performances by the Tokyo Philharmonic, the London Sinfonietta, New York City Opera VOX, ICE, Psappha, the Albany Symphony, Lontano, Collage New Music, the Schubert Ensemble and many others. Recent compositions 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 New York Philharmonic commission for chamber orchestra, Game of Attrition.

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 a Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Tanglewood Paul Jacobs Award commission, and numerous fellowships including Aspen, Aldeburgh Britten-Pears, and the MacDowell Colony. She has been the subject of a Composer Portrait series concert at the Miller Theatre, New York (2009), Spotlight on: Arlene Sierra, an hour-long show and podcast on New York Public Radio (2006/7), and a Showcase concert at the Crush Room, Royal Opera House, London (2007).