Robert Sirota - A Sinner's Diary

A Sinner's Diary is a rather unusual work in that it is a confessional piece. It started, innocently enough, as a series of what amounted to journal entries: brief pieces, each of which reflected a sense of my inner life on a given day. These evolved into a kind of conversation between my inner demons and the angels of my better nature. This duality reflects the particular pulls and tugs of the past year - a year that has included a number of personal crises as well as abundant grace.

The nine movements of A Sinner's Diary are arranged as a sort of surreal liturgy, including movements whose titles are taken from rubrics in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. (Thanksgivings may follow; Prayers may be offered for ourselves and others; Here may be sung a hymn or anthem) It may be useful to the listener to know that the sins I am most susceptible to are Pride and Envy.

A slightly shorter version of this work was given its first performance this past summer at the Yellow Barn Festival in Amherst, Mass. Tonight's performance is the premiere of the complete work. The piece is dedicated to my two remarkable children, Nadia and Jonah.
-Robert Sirota