Cardiff composer achieves BBC Proms success

School of Music academic has acclaimed composition performed    

A Cardiff University composer will today have a composition performed at London’s Cadogan Hall as part of the prestigious BBC Proms annual season of summer concerts.

Dr Arlene Sierra, an American-born composer and Senior Lecturer at the University’s School of Music, has had her compositions performed all over the world but today’s concert marks her Proms debut.

The trio of Nicola Benedetti, Leonard Elschenbroich and Alexei Grynuk will perform Dr Sierra’s acclaimed Butterflies Remember a Mountain along with the Brahms Piano Trio No. 1.

The trio gave the world premiere of the piece in Bremen in 2013 and have since performed it in numerous prestigious venues including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Frankfurt Alte Oper, and Cheltenham Town Hall.

It was commissioned by the Bremen Philharmonic Society at the behest of Artist-in-Residence Leonard Elschenbroich.

The Prom will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and will be available afterwards on BBC iPlayer.

In a recent interview to Natural Light, a website devoted to artists inspired by nature, Dr Sierra discusses aspects from the natural world that feature in many of her compositions. The piano trio Butterflies Remember a Mountain is inspired by the migration patterns of Monarch butterflies.

“I am delighted to be making my BBC Proms debut with a performance by consummate artists Nicola Benedetti, Leonard Elschenbroich and Alexei Grynyuk. It’s tremendously rewarding to have a new piece championed in this way, by truly world-class musicians.”