Robert Sirota: 212: Symphony No. 1 To Be Presented by Manhattan School of Music

On Friday, October 18, 2024 at 7:30pm, in Neidorff-Karpati Hall (130 Claremont Avenue), Manhattan School of Music (MSM) will present a performance of 212: Symphony No. 1 by composer Robert Sirota, featuring the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra conducted by MSM Director of Orchestral Activities George Manahan.

The concert will also include Symphony No. 2 (Sinfonía India) by Carlos Chávez and Piano Concerto For The Left Hand In D Major by Maurice Ravel. This performance will mark the first return of Sirota's 212: Symphony No. 1 to MSM's concert programming since its highly praised debut.

Over five decades, composer Robert Sirota, a past president of MSM, has developed a distinctive voice, clearly discernible in all of his work – whether symphonic, choral, stage, or chamber music. Writing in the Portland Press Herald, Allan Kozinn asserts: “Sirota's musical language is personal and undogmatic, in the sense that instead of aligning himself with any of the competing contemporary styles, he follows his own internal musical compass.” Sirota's impressive catalog of composed work evokes a wide range of emotion that touches on several aspects of the human experience, as well as locations and settings that hold personal significance to Sirota and his life experiences.

Manhattan School of Music presented the world premiere of the 212: Symphony No. 1 in 2008, then performed by the Manhattan School of Music Symphony under the direction of conductor Kenneth Kiesler.

In 2007, when beginning his work on what would become the 212: Symphony No. 1, Sirota came to the realization that writing music inspired by the borough of Manhattan required an extended, multi-movement work as the chosen musical form. He states in his program note that “nothing less” would suffice, going on to say, “In framing the four movements of this 25-minute work, I have tried to portray Manhattan as I have experienced it: a place of incomparable majesty, vitality, tragedy, and hope.” The highly emotive work is dedicated to the memory of Sirota's father, Harry Sirota, whom Robert regards as “a truly great New Yorker.”

Reflecting on 212: Symphony No. 1 and what it means to him in the present, Sirota says:

“This piece holds a special place in my heart. Returning to Manhattan School of Music is a true homecoming for me, and I am honored that Maestro Goerge Manahan will be conducting. We are planning to release this performance of ‘212' by the MSM Symphony as a commercial recording.”

More about Robert Sirota: Robert Sirota's works have been performed by orchestras across the US and Europe; ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, Sequitur, yMusic, Chameleon Arts, and Dinosaur Annex; Concerts on the Slope; the Chiara, American, Ethel, Elmyr, Blair and Telegraph String Quartets; the Peabody, Concord, and Webster Trios; and at festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Yellow Barn, and Cooperstown; Bowdoin Gamper and Bowdoin International Music Festival; and Mizzou International Composers Festival. Recent commissions include Jeffrey Kahane and the Sarasota Music Festival, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Palladium Musicum, American Guild of Organists, the American String Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, the Naumburg Foundation, and yMusic, Thomas Pellaton, Carol Wincenc, Linda Chesis, Trinity Episcopal Church (Indianapolis), and Sierra Chamber Society, as well as arrangements for Paul Simon.

Since 2021, Sirota has presented Muzzy Ridge Concerts, an annual series featuring performances by world-class musicians, in his home studio in Searsmont, Maine. Robert Sirota has received grants from the Guggenheim and Watson Foundations, NEA, Meet the Composer, and the American Music Center. His music is recorded on Legacy Recordings, National Sawdust Tracks, and the Capstone, Albany, New Voice, Gasparo and Crystal labels, and is published by Muzzy Ridge Music, Schott, Music Associates of New York, MorningStar, Theodore Presser, and To the Fore. For complete information, visit www.robertsirota.com.

About Manhattan School of Music: Founded as a community music school by Janet Daniels Schenck in 1918, today Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is recognized for its more than 1,000 superbly talented undergraduate and graduate students who come from more than 50 countries and nearly all 50 states; its innovative curricula and world-renowned artist-teacher faculty that includes musicians from the New York Philharmonic, the Met Orchestra, and the top ranks of the jazz and Broadway worlds; and a distinguished community of accomplished, award-winning alumni working at the highest levels of the musical, educational, cultural, and professional worlds.

The School is dedicated to the personal, artistic, and intellectual development of aspiring musicians, from its Precollege students through those pursuing doctoral studies. Offering classical, jazz, and musical theatre training, MSM grants a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees. True to MSM's origins as a music school for children, the Precollege Division is a professionally oriented Saturday music program dedicated to the musical and personal growth of talented young musicians ages 5 to 18. The School also serves some 2,000 New York City schoolchildren through its Arts-in-Education Program, and another 2,000 students through its critically acclaimed Distance Learning Program.

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