Chloris & Zephyrus (2020)
from the composer
Primavera is a painting that I have seen many times during my visits to Italy, and although I was familiar with it, I only got to know it through this project. When my mind was focused on the task of writing a work for cello that, at some level, needed to relate to the Botticelli painting, my eyes went straight to Chloris and Zephyrus. The playful nature of their pose, the delicate nature of Chloris, who seems to be entranced while wanting to flee, and the otherworldly nature of Zephyrus became elements that I translated into musical expression. The work ends with a dance inspired by the choreographic nature of the painting.
bio
For more than three decades the works of Roberto Sierra have been part of the repertoire of many of the leading orchestras, ensembles and festivals in the USA and Europe. At the inaugural concert of the 2002 world renowned Proms in London, his Fandangos was performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a concert that was broadcast by both the BBC Radio and Television throughout the UK and Europe. Many of the major American and European orchestras and international ensembles and soloists have commissioned and performed his works.
In 2021 Roberto Sierra was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 2017 he was awarded the Tomás Luis de Victoria Prize, the highest honor given in Spain to a composer of Spanish or Latin American origin. In 2010 he was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2003 he was awarded the Academy Award in Music by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Roberto Sierra was born in 1953 in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, and studied composition both in Puerto Rico and Europe, where one his teachers was György Ligeti at the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg, Germany. The works of Roberto Sierra are published principally by Subito Music Publishing (ASCAP).