Robert Sirota

Robert Sirota (born October 13, 1949) is an American composer based in New York City and Searsmont, Maine. Sirota has written solo instrumental, vocal, chamber, orchestral, operatic, and liturgical works. He is the father of American violists Nadia Sirota and Jonah Sirota, and husband to organist and Episcopal priest Victoria Sirota. Dating back to 1994, Robert Sirota's work can be found on nine studio albums recorded by an assortment of musicians including: Dinosaur Annex Ensemble, the Chiara String Quartet, and the American String Quartet. Most recently, Sirota's 2020 work for cello and piano, Family Portraits, was recorded by the Fischer Duo for their album 2020 Visions, released on Navona Records on August 26, 2022.

Education and career Born in New York, Sirota received his earliest compositional training at The Juilliard School. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree in piano and composition from Oberlin Conservatory, studying with Joseph Wood and Richard Hoffman. Sirota received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which allowed him to study abroad in Paris, where his principal teacher was Nadia Boulanger. Sirota went on to study with Earl Kim and Leon Kirchner, earning his Ph.D. in composition from Harvard University. In 1995, he became Director of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. In 2005 he became President of Manhattan School of Music, where he was also a composition professor. He served as president there until 2012.

Sirota has held residencies and seminars at institutions in the United States and abroad, including Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the University of Missouri–Kansas City, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Samford University, Miami Dade College's New World School of the Arts, Peabody Institute, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore. In New York City he developed the Bridging the Gap concert series at National Sawdust.

In 2019 and 2020 a series called Sirota @ 70 marked his 70th birthday with performances of Sirota's compositions.

Grants and publishing Grants to Sirota have come from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, United States Information Agency, Watson Foundation, American Music Center, and Meet The Composer. The publishers of his music have included Theodore Presser, Schott, Music Associates of New York, MorningStar, The concerts have featured musicians including flutist Carol Wincenc and cellist Velléda Miragias of Duo Coquelicot, violinist Laurie Carney, pianist David Friend, pianist and composer Nico Muhly, and oboist Regina Brady, as well as Sirota's son, violist Jonah Sirota, his daughter, violist Nadia Sirota, and his wife, organist and pianist Victoria Sirota.

Commissions Wave Upon Wave for the Naumburg Foundation (2017) Immigrant Songs for the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine (2018) Luminous Bodies performed by Jeffrey Kahane and yMusic at the Sarasota Music Festival (2018) Hafez Songs for Palladium Musicum (2018) O Blessed Holy Trinity for choir and organ, for Trinity Episcopal Church, Indianapolis Cello Sonata No. 2 for Benjamin Larsen and Hyungjin Choi (2019) In the Fullness of Time, Mass for chorus, organ and percussion, Apparitions for organ and string quartet, for the American Guild of Organists (1999) American String Quartet Alarm Will Sound Paul Simon (arrangements for Simon and sextet yMusic)

Compositions and projects Sirota has composed over 100 works. The most significant include:

1988: The Clever Mistress – chamber opera in one act, libretto By Robert Sirota, based upon a story from the Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio 1990: Mass 1999: In the Fullness of Time for organ and orchestra 2004: Triptych for string quartet 2007: 212: Symphony No. 1 2008: A Rush of Wings 2012: Pange Lingua Sonata for violin and piano 2013: Sonata No. 2: Farewell for violin and piano 2016: American Pilgrimage for string quartet 2017: Wave Upon Wave for string quartet 2018: Luminous Bodies for clarinet, flute, trumpet, violin, viola, cello, and piano 2019: Contrapassos for soprano and string quartet 2020: Family Portraits for cello and piano

His works have been performed by ensembles including Alarm Will Sound, Lincoln's Symphony, New Hampshire Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Virginia Symphony, the Saint Petersburg State Orchestra (Russia), the Royal Conservatory Orchestra (Toronto), and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra (Singapore), and at venues including the Aspen Music Festival, Caramoor, Death of Classical (Brooklyn), Bargemusic, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Kaufman Music Center, National Sawdust, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall, and Tanglewood.

Conductors of his music have included JoAnn Falletta, Kenneth Kiesler, Gerard Schwarz, Alan Pierson, Bramwell Tovey, and Yan Pascal Tortelier.

Musicians who have performed his music include pianists Jeffrey Kahane, Vicky Chow, Ben Pasternack, David Friend, Soyeon Kate Lee, and Jeanne Kierman Fischer; flutists Carol Wincenc, Alex Sopp, and Linda Chesis; violinists Laurie Carney, Hyeyung Sol Yoon, Rebecca Fischer, and Nicholas Mann; violists Cynthia Phelps, Daniel Avshalomov, Jonah Sirota, and Nadia Sirota; cellists Norman Fischer, Gregory Beaver, and David Geber; and organists Hatsumi Miura, Victoria Sirota, and Heinrich Christensen.

Discography Studio recordings 212: Symphony No. 1 2026 Released: April 17, 2026 Label: Azica Records Label: Navona Records Format: CD, DigitalNew York Rising2019 Released: August 20, 2019 Label: Classax Records Format: CD, DigitalElegy for a Lost World2018 Released: June 22, 2018 Independent Release Format: CD, DigitalParting the Veil2014 Released: December 1, 2014 Label: Albany Records Format: CD, DigitalCelestial Wind: Organ Works of Robert Sirota2014 Released: May 6, 2014 Label: Albany Records Formal: CD, DigitalTriptych2004 Released: 2004 Label: New Voice Singles Format: CD, DigitalThe Kay Africa Memorial Organ2002 Released: 2002 Independent Release Format: CDWorks for Cello2001 Released: 2001 Label: Gasparo Records Format: CDNew Sounds from the Village1994 Released 1994 Capstone Records Format: CD

Arrangements Paul Simon: In the Blue Light2018 Released September 7, 2018 Legacy Recordings Format: CD, DigitalPaul Simon: Seven Psalms2023 Released May 19, 2023 Owl Recordings Format: CD, Digital