Arlene Sierra, Cristo no tiene cuerpo (2024)

Performed by the choir of the Conservatorio Superior de Música "Joaquín Rodrigo”, Nadia Stoyanova, director
Auditorio Conservatorio Superior de Música "Joaquín Rodrigo" de Valencia, 11 December 2024

Cristo no tiene cuerpo is a setting of a poem attributed to St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Cristo no tiene cuerpo, sino el tuyo,
No tiene manos, o pies en la tierra, sino los tuyos,
Tuyos son los ojos con los que ve
La compasión en este mundo,
Tuyos son los pies con los que camina para hacer el bien,
Tuyas son las manos, con el que bendice todo el mundo.
Tuyas son las manos, tuyos son los pies, Tuyos son los ojos, eres tu 
Su cuerpo.
Cristo no tiene otro cuerpo sino el tuyo.

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he sees
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no other body but yours.

Sierra: Cristo no tiene cuerpo

Live at Alte Feuerwache Köln in March 2024 //
Premiere of ‘Scaradh anama le corp’ for saxophone quartet and live electronics. Such an honour to write for the wonderful Fukio Quartet. Special thanks to Kulturstiftung NRW for their support in this new commission.

Scaradh anama le corp (Separation of body from soul)

In February 2012 students and schoolchildren in Valencia, Spain took to the streets to protest
brutal austerity cuts to schools imposed by a regional government rife with corruption scandals.
These students, who had, in some cases been wearing blankets in their classrooms because
the schools couldn’t afford heating, took to Xàtiva Street to voice their discontent only to be
brutally attacked by the police with batons, rubber bullets, and teargas. Originally for brass and
percussion, this ‘protest fanfare’ was originally premiered in the Palau de la Musica, Valencia in
front of an audience that included supporters of the police and austerity measures.

This version for orchestra is a complete reimagining of the piece and is written the London
Symphony Orchestra, who I had the pleasure of conducting on the occasion of the Nonclassical Label’s 20th anniversary. Thanks to Gabriel Prokofiev for producing this live recording mix from the orchestral premiere in 2024.

Photo credit: KAI FÖRSTERLING (EFE)

Xàtiva Street (extract)

David Lake of WRUU Contemporary Classics talks with composer Arlene Sierra and pianists Steven Beck and Sarah Cahill who collaborate in the new album  ARLENE SIERRA, VOL. 4.  BIRDS & INSECTS on Bridge Records.

WRUU Contemporary Classics: Birds and Insects with Arlene Sierra, Sarah Cahill and Steven Beck

Arlene Sierra's latest portrait disc with Bridge Records, featuring Steven Beck and Sarah Cahill performing piano albums, Birds and Insects, Books 1-3

Bridge Records

SIERRA: Birds And Insects, Book III - 5. Troupial (Bridge CD clip)

Ravel Sites auriculaires (orch. Hesketh)

4. ZNIT_ THEME_2

Edward Nesbit - In the Desert; with Anna Dennis

A virtuoso new-music group with players drawn from the LSO and LPO, the Ossian Ensemble have worked with many of today's leading UK composers including Thomas Ades, their honorary patron Peter Maxwell Davies (featuring in his BBC4 Documentary), and Jonathan Harvey (invited by him to give his 70th Birthday concert) and have premiered hundreds of works by emerging composers. Recent performances include Pierrot Lunaire at the Linbury Studio, a highlight-feature in the Sounds New Festival, and representing the UK at the International Composers' Pyramid.  They are passionate about educational outreach, taking workshops at Royal Holloway University and, as fellows, at RCM and RAM.

Edward Nesbit - In the Desert; with Anna Dennis

Ossian Ensemble

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