Arlene Sierra (b. 1970) Avian Mirrors (2013)

Born in Miami to a family of New Yorkers, Arlene Sierra is a graduate of the conservatory at Oberlin College, Yale School of Music, and the University of Michigan. Her principal teachers were Martin Bresnick, Michael Daugherty, and Jacob Druckman. The impetus of Arlene’s music comes from rich sources including military strategy and game theory, Darwinian evolution, and the natural world. Champions of her music have included the Tokyo Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, New York City Opera VOX, ICE, Psappha, Lontano, New Juilliard Ensemble, Schubert Ensemble, and many others. Currently based in London, Arlene is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Master of Music in Composition program at Cardiff University School of Music in Wales. She has also taught at the Eastman School of Music, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, Cambridge University, and Kings College (London). Arlene Sierra was Yellow Barn's 2013 Composer in Residence.

Arlene Sierra offers the following for Avian Mirrors:

Avian Mirrors explores the title concept in three ways: movement one, “Greeting”, is a dialog in which calls are answered in quick succession. The game of answering leads to seeming mistakes and resulting variations. Movement two, “Reflection”, takes simple melodic figures and presents them with their inversion—an aural approximation of an avian image reflected in water. Finally movement three, “Display”, has the two performers displaying their most flamboyant virtuosity in amiable competition.

Avian Mirrors was commissioned by and with the generous support of Elizabeth Jacobs for Anthony Marwood and Richard Lester, who gave the first performance at the 2013 Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival in celebration of the 80th birthday of Elizabeth Jacobs.