Robert Sirota to Release CONTRAPASSOS Album on Azica Records
The New York Times has praised Sirota's compositional voice for its distinctive tartness and rhythmic bite.
Composer Robert Sirota is set to release a new album, CONTRAPASSOS, on the Azica label, featuring world premiere recordings performed by the Telegraph Quartet and soprano Abigail Fischer. The album marks a new collection of Sirota's chamber and vocal works making their recorded debut.
Two of Robert Sirota's chamber works, Contrapassos for String Quartet and Soprano (2019) and String Quartet No. 3, Wave Upon Wave (2018), will be released on August 28, 2026 on a new album on Azica Records. This is the eleventh album featuring Sirota's music, and his second for Azica, following the release of 212: Symphony No. 1 earlier this year. Contrapassos, which was commissioned by the Sierra Chamber Society and includes text by Stevan Cavalier, is performed by the Telegraph Quartet with soprano Abigail Fischer. Wave Upon Wave is performed by the Telegraph Quartet.
Over five decades, Robert Sirota 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 states: 'Collaborating with the Telegraph Quartet and Abigail Fischer in the creation of these works has been a deeply rewarding and satisfying experience. After several years of delay, I am delighted that this recording is now a reality.'
Robert Sirota composed his third string quartet, Wave Upon Wave, in 2017. Commissioned by the Naumburg Foundation, the award-winning Telegraph Quartet gave the world premiere in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2018. Wave Upon Wave is the third work in a trilogy that Sirota began with his first string quartet, Triptych, in 2002. Sirota describes all three quartets as 'a long journal entry reflecting a response to our times,' with Wave Upon Wave focusing on 'our fears, our hopes, and our prayers that we will triumph over the forces of darkness which threaten to overwhelm us,' writes Sirota in his program notes. Of the sold out world premiere performance at Carnegie Hall, New York Daily Music described the work as, 'chillingly cinematic.' The San Francisco Classical Voice described Wave Upon Wave as being shaped by a 'variety of moods' and 'heartbeat rhythms' throughout the work's movements.
In 2019 Sirota composed Contrapassos. Due to the pandemic lockdown, the performance date endured almost as many changes as the music itself, which is inspired by the imagery of Dante. After several postponements of the initial 2020 world premiere, the Telegraph Quartet and soprano Abigail Fischer were finally able to come together and give the highly anticipated world premiere in July 2022.
'[Contrapassos] begins with memories of the quotidian joys of childhood, quickly turning to darkness and thoughts of early death by suicide, heart attacks in middle age, and final judgment,' says Sirota. 'And yet throughout, there is the vigorous embrace of abundant life, of the beauty of our world, and of our striving for faith.' In performance, Contrapassos reflects a seamless collaboration between poetry, vocal, and instrumental music.
Robert Sirota's works have been performed by orchestras across the US and Europe; ensembles such as The Cecilia Chorus of New York, Alarm Will Sound, Sequitur, yMusic, Chameleon Arts, and Dinosaur Annex; the Chiara, American, Telegraph, and Blair String Quartets; the Neave, Peabody, Concord, and Webster Trios; and at festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Yellow Barn, and Cooperstown music festivals; Bowdoin Gamper and Bowdoin International Music Festival; and Mizzou International Composers Festival. Commissions for Sirota@70 in honor of his 70th birthday included works for Thomas Pellaton, Carol Wincenc, Linda Chesis & the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival, and Sierra Chamber Society.
Additional recent commissions include the music for Rising, an evening-length dance collaboration with choreographer Gabrielle Lamb, Pigeonwing Dance, and the Neave Trio; A Migrant's Dream, a choral work commissioned by Judith Clurman for Essential Voices USA; Sirota's third string quartet, Wave Upon Wave for the Naumburg Foundation; his fourth string quartet Contrapassos for the Sierra Chamber Society, Immigrant Songs for the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine; Luminous Bodies performed by Jeffrey Kahane and yMusic at the Sarasota Music Festival; Hafez Songs for Palladium Musicum; O Blessed Holy Trinity for choir and organ, for Trinity Episcopal Church, Indianapolis; and his Cello Sonata No. 2, for Benjamin Larsen and Hyungjin Choi. Sirota's arrangements of songs for Paul Simon and yMusic were performed on Simon's farewell tour, including an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Sirota is a recipient of grants from the Guggenheim and Watson Foundations, United States Information Agency, National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and the American Music Center. His works are recorded on Navona Records, Legacy Recordings, National Sawdust Tracks, and the Capstone, Albany, New Voice, Gasparo and Crystal labels. His music is published by Muzzy Ridge Music, Hal Leonard, MorningStar, Theodore Presser, and To the Fore.
Before becoming Director of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in 1995, Sirota served as Chairman of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at New York University and Director of Boston University's School of Music. From 2005-2012, he was the President of Manhattan School of Music, where he was also a member of the School's composition faculty.
A native New Yorker, Sirota studied at Juilliard, Oberlin, and Harvard and divides his time between New York and Searsmont, Maine with his wife, Episcopal priest and organist Victoria Sirota. They frequently collaborate on new works, with Victoria as librettist and performer, at times also working with their children, Jonah and Nadia, both world-class violists.
About the Telegraph Quartet
The Telegraph Quartet has performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including New York City's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco's Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. The Quartet is currently the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Michigan.
Notable collaborations include projects with pianists Leon Fleisher and Simone Dinnerstein; cellists Norman Fischer and Bonnie Hampton; violinist Ian Swensen; and the St. Lawrence Quartet and Henschel Quartett. A fervent champion of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, the Telegraph Quartet has premiered works by Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Robert Sirota, and Richard Festinger.
The Telegraph Quartet released its celebrated debut album Into The Light in 2018 and is currently recording an extensive three-album series titled 20th Century Vantage Points for Azica Records, exploring string quartets of the 20th century. The first volume, Divergent Paths (2022), features two works that (to the best of the Quartet's knowledge) have never been recorded on the same album before: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F Major and Arnold Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7. In August 2025, the Telegraph released the second volume, Edge of the Storm, which examines the turbulent years of war and its aftermath from 1941-1951 through string quartets by Grażyna Bacewicz, Benjamin Britten, and Mieczysław Weinberg. Volume three will be released in fall 2027. In addition, the Telegraph releases recordings of the string quartets of Robert Sirota in summer 2026 (Azica Records) and of Kenji Bunch in spring 2027 (Phenotypic Records).
Beyond the concert stage, the Telegraph Quartet is deeply committed to education, mentorship, and meaningful audience engagement. The ensemble has presented masterclasses globally, including for the Collegiate and Pre-College Divisions of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, through the Morrison Artist Series at San Francisco State University, and internationally at Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
As Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Michigan, Telegraph has also launched an initiative designed to help emerging musicians bridge the gap between academic study and professional life. Through this program, selected chamber music students join the Quartet on tour, gaining professional experience by rehearsing, traveling, and performing alongside the ensemble.
The Quartet has also served as artists-in-residence at Gretna Music, the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp, SoCal Chamber Music Workshop, and Crowden Music Center Chamber Music Workshop. In November 2020, Telegraph launched ChamberFEAST!, a chamber music workshop in Taiwan. That same year, the ensemble created TeleLab, an online video series in which the musicians collectively explore and break down the individual components of selected string-quartet movements. TeleLab has since expanded into an in-person lecture-demonstration and performance program.
In the summers of 2022 and 2024, the Telegraph Quartet traveled to Vienna to work with Schoenberg specialist Henk Guittart in collaboration with the Arnold Schönberg Center, undertaking an in-depth study of Schoenberg's complete string quartets.
For more information, visit www.telegraphquartet.com.
About Abigail Fischer
Abigail Fischer is an internationally acclaimed American soprano celebrated for performances of exceptional emotional depth, dramatic honesty, and vocal artistry. The New York Times praised her 'disarming intimacy,' and chief classical music critic Zachary Woolfe wrote, 'Ms. Fischer sings with a passionate restraint that has no equal in her generation. You didn't want her to stop.'
Known for her versatility across opera, concert repertoire, and contemporary music, Fischer has been featured at Los Angeles Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Baroque, American Bach Soloists, Ars Lyrica Houston, Da Camera of Houston, Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Beijing Music Festival, Teatro Comunale di Bolzano, and the Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival. Her performances have taken her to Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, and major festivals throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.
As a defining interpreter of contemporary opera, Fischer created the leading role in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek's Song from the Uproar, and Du Yun and Royce Vavrek's Pulitzer Prize-winning Angel's Bone. She has premiered works by Nico Muhly, Elliott Carter, John Zorn, Bernard Rands, David Lang, Harold Meltzer, Robert Sirota, and performed Toshio Hosokawa's Hanjo and The Raven in Trento, Italy.
Fischer has enjoyed a vibrant concert career spanning Bach, Handel, Mozart, Purcell, Mahler, Berg and George Benjamin. Highlights include Handel's Messiah, Bach's Mass in B Minor and Magnificat, Mahler's Symphony No. 3, Lieberson's Neruda Songs, Berg's Sieben Frühe Lieder, and Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. Before transitioning to soprano, Fischer spent fifteen years performing professionally as a mezzo soprano, singing repertoire from Dido and Aeneas, Cenerentola and Carmen, while also working as a professional choral singer and cellist in New York.
A graduate of Vassar College and the Eastman School of Music, Fischer also trained at the Marlboro Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Tanglewood Music Center.
Fischer's work has expanded from interpreting the music of others to creating original musical experiences of her own. Today, through her Earthshine project, Fischer composes, performs, and facilitates immersive musical experiences integrating conscious breathwork, sound meditation, vocal improvisation, nervous system awareness, intuitive development, emotional energy release, shamanic journeying, inner child healing, shadow work, and voice activation. She has guided hundreds of individuals and groups through retreats, ceremonial concerts, and transformational experiences, continuing to explore music's extraordinary capacity to awaken beauty, authenticity, healing, and wonder.
Tracklist
String Quartet No. 3 - Wave Upon Wave
1. I. Relentless [5:07]
2. Interlude 1 Adagio Expressivo [1:20]
3. II. eighth note = 104 [3:22]
4. III. Rapido [2:24]
5. Interlude 2 Appassionata [0:49]
6. IV. quartet note = 72 [5:59]
Contrapassos
7. I. Dreamlike [4:37]
8. II. quarter note = 76 [3:56]
9. III. quartet note = 104, IV. quartet note = 60 [4:03]
10. V. Tempo Giusto, Dirgelike VI. quarter note = 96 [5:19]
11. VII. quarter note = 104 [1:40]
12. VIII. quarter note = 80 [2:52]
Total time [41:28]
Sirota's music has previously drawn notice from critics, including The New York Times, which described his compositional voice as having a distinctive tartness and rhythmic bite. CONTRAPASSOS continues his output of contemporary chamber and vocal works, presented here through performances by the Telegraph Quartet and Abigail Fischer.
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