Sierra Ensemble with Matthew Vincent, violin, Janis Lieberman, horn, and Marc Steiner, piano makes its debut performance at the center on June 3, 2023 at 5 pm. with two horn trios: ”Chaopolis” by Turkish composer Tolga Özdemir.and the epic trio by Brahms, opus 40 in Eb Major.. The program will also include two duos: Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-flat major, K.481 by Mozart and Romance, opus 36 by Saint Saens for Horn and Piano.
Sierra Ensemble is committed to supporting a lively chamber music environment. Performing worldwide and throughout the United States since 1998, Sierra Ensemble’s mission seeks to build community and add to the unique violin, horn, and piano trio repertoire via composer commissions, education projects and accessible performances. Sierra Ensemble was the winner of CEC ArtsLink and U.S. Department of State grants for the ensemble’s project, the Turkish American Composers Project in 2013. To help expand the horn trio repertoire, past engagements have included commissioning composers Russell Steinberg , Martha Stoddard, Aida Shirazi, and Tolga Özdemir. Recent commissions include new works by Richard Aldag, Anthony DeRitis and Andres Carrizo, who joined Sierra Ensemble and Medius Terra Horn Duo at the Avaloch 2019 Residency Program in New Hampshire.. Presently, Sierra Ensemble is collaborating with a Boston based composer, Anthony DeRitis.
Sierra Ensemble is a winner of the 2021 commission grant award by InterMusicSF, and on February 6, 2022 performed the world premiere of Richard Aldag’s Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano in San Francisco. Sierra Ensemble was invited as one of a select group of chamber ensembles to perform at San Francisco Music Day on March 20, 2022, where they presented the U.S. premiere of Tolga Özdemir’s “Chaopolis”. Sierra Ensemble’s 2020-2021 season included performances in Berkeley at the East Bay Music Collective in January, a free livestream concert at the Center for New Music, San Francisco in July, and were featured as part of the San Francisco Chamber Music Day in October, 2021.
Sierra Ensemble collaborated with students in virtual education projects in San Francisco Bay Area schools during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years, with outreach programs in El Cerrito and Richmond Schools. The American Federation of Musicians, Local 6, San Francisco, via the Music Performance Trust Funds, sponsored Sierra Ensemble in a free livestream concert to East Bay schools, on April 29, 2021.
“Sierra Ensemble does much more than define chamber
music...they breathe life into every note for even the most casual listener.”
—Jan Bevan, Artist in Residence, Cummer Museum of Art