PRESS
ESSAYS ON HER LIFE AND MUSIC
Kirsten Soriano (formerly, Kirsten Broberg) was interviewed about her life and music by Voyage Dallas. Read the article.
Kirsten wrote the essay, Finding My Voice as a Composer and a Glimpse into the Natura cycle for the International Alliance for Women in Music Journal and was featured on the cover of their spring 2016 issue. Read her essay.
PRESS QUOTES, REVIEWS AND INTERVIEWS
"Her music has been described as haunting, stunning, and picturesque even ineffable. It casts a spell on us that leaves time behind, taking us into a different kind of present, a different kind of now (Alison Young, Minnesota Public Radio)." Hear the story audio.
"Whether you're a believer in fate or not, you kind of have to think Kirsten Broberg was meant to be a composer. Even since a young age it seemed inevitable … (Trevor Hunter, New Music Box)." Read the full article.
Along with illustrations, the film had an original score reminiscent of Egyptian scales and harmonies, but also maintained a Western influence. The score came from Kirsten Broberg, a composer and associate professor of composition at UNT. “I have always dreamt of composing for film, as I am extremely passionate about films and film music,” Broberg said. “I discovered an Egyptian scale that had the same pitches as a popular Western scale, but they simply had different tonics, so I composed themes from that harmonic perspective.” Read the full article.
"The standout composition on the program was "Ethers" for horn, cello, and percussion by Ensemble Dal Niente founder Kirsten Broberg. It was a beautifully understated, spectral piece that built up harmonic constructions with a sharp ear for the timbres of the instruments." (Devin Hurd, New Music Box). Read the full article.
“The real gem here is "Constellations," by Kirsten Broberg. This delightfully evocative partita artfully introduces icy, nebulously related clusters and after some otherworldly upper-register explorations watches the universe expand and cool down even further (Alan Young, Lucid Culture)." Read the full article.
“A homage to Grisey’s 1994-6 work Vortex Temporum, Broberg uses French horn overtones—wonderfully supplied by soloist Bernhard Scully—within a twelve-string soundscape punctuated by percussion that included cow bells and glockenspiel. The piece builds in dynamics and shifts from tentative whole tones to an extended climactic triumph of the tonal triad (Dennis Polkow, Chicago Classical Review)." Read the full article.
"Broberg explained that the inspiration for her Celestial Dawning had been Holst’s The Planets, which was clearly evident in the great wash of sound she favored through (Susan Elliot, Classical Voice America)." Read the full article.
"First up was 'Celestial Dawning,' a piece by Kirsten Broberg. She currently teaches at the University of North Texas, but she's originally from White Bear Lake ... 'Hearing her composition performed by an orchestra of this caliber is a dream come true,' she said. She's learned a huge amount and will use the experience to refine her piece (Evan Kerr, Minnesota Public Radio)." Hear the story audio.
"Kirsten Broberg from White Bear Lake, the only Minnesota composer in this year's group, paints silvery, glistening sounds in her "Celestial Dawning (Michael Anthony, Minneapolis Star Tribune)." Read the full article.
"Dal Niente became more organized and busier. Broberg went on to become the ensemble’s first executive director in 2009, and in 2010, the group made an award-winning appearance at International Festival for New Music in Darmstadt, which has long been associated with the most celebrated names in new music (It has since returned twice)." (Hannah Edgar, The Chicago Maroon). Read the full article.
“The increasingly prolific Kirsten Broberg also premiered her Origins, a stunning and picturesque five-movement work for mixed winds and strings (Bryant Manning, Chicago Classical Review). Read the full article.
"… Breathturn, by Chicago-based composer Kirsten Broberg, 30, which set five Paul Celan poems, expressing life and death matters, in a continuous piece that made you rethink what constitutes singing (David Patrick Stearns, the Philadephia Enquirer)." Read the full article.
"Kirsten Broberg has embraced the spectral approach in her own works: 'I am interested in drawing harmonic material from various spectra, such as an overtone series that I develop in a cycle,' Broberg says (Doyle Armbrust, Time Out Chicago)." Read the full article.
“Kirsten Broberg, founder of new-music ensemble dal niente, is no such snob. Earlier this year at the Green Mill, her contemporary ensemble delivered an anguished take on Radiohead’s “Nude,” with Masahito Sugihara’s sax standing in for Thom Yorke’s vocals (Bryant Manning, Time Out Chicago)." Read the full article.
"I did not know Broberg’s music beforehand, but now I want to know more of it. This was a sensitive, beautiful work that took advantage of the capabilities of the ensemble (Wes Flynn, Sequenza 21)." Read the full article.
“This ensemble just returned from Darmstadt, Germany, where it was presented with the Young Ensembles Award during the city’s New Music Summer Course, an esteemed symposium of lectures and premieres of new music, thereby elevating Chicago’s new-music cred internationally. Founded in 2004 by composer Kirsten Broberg, the group is now in residency as a kind of house band for Columbia College, giving the young artists in director Marcos Balter’s composition program a world-class group of instrumentalists to perform their works, rather than a lifeless MIDI keyboard (Doyle Armbrust, Time Out Chicago)." View the original link.
"Whether you're a believer in fate or not, you kind of have to think Kirsten Broberg was meant to be a composer. Even since a young age it seemed inevitable … (Trevor Hunter, New Music Box)." Read the full article.
Along with illustrations, the film had an original score reminiscent of Egyptian scales and harmonies, but also maintained a Western influence. The score came from Kirsten Broberg, a composer and associate professor of composition at UNT. “I have always dreamt of composing for film, as I am extremely passionate about films and film music,” Broberg said. “I discovered an Egyptian scale that had the same pitches as a popular Western scale, but they simply had different tonics, so I composed themes from that harmonic perspective.” Read the full article.
"The standout composition on the program was "Ethers" for horn, cello, and percussion by Ensemble Dal Niente founder Kirsten Broberg. It was a beautifully understated, spectral piece that built up harmonic constructions with a sharp ear for the timbres of the instruments." (Devin Hurd, New Music Box). Read the full article.
“The real gem here is "Constellations," by Kirsten Broberg. This delightfully evocative partita artfully introduces icy, nebulously related clusters and after some otherworldly upper-register explorations watches the universe expand and cool down even further (Alan Young, Lucid Culture)." Read the full article.
“A homage to Grisey’s 1994-6 work Vortex Temporum, Broberg uses French horn overtones—wonderfully supplied by soloist Bernhard Scully—within a twelve-string soundscape punctuated by percussion that included cow bells and glockenspiel. The piece builds in dynamics and shifts from tentative whole tones to an extended climactic triumph of the tonal triad (Dennis Polkow, Chicago Classical Review)." Read the full article.
"Broberg explained that the inspiration for her Celestial Dawning had been Holst’s The Planets, which was clearly evident in the great wash of sound she favored through (Susan Elliot, Classical Voice America)." Read the full article.
"First up was 'Celestial Dawning,' a piece by Kirsten Broberg. She currently teaches at the University of North Texas, but she's originally from White Bear Lake ... 'Hearing her composition performed by an orchestra of this caliber is a dream come true,' she said. She's learned a huge amount and will use the experience to refine her piece (Evan Kerr, Minnesota Public Radio)." Hear the story audio.
"Kirsten Broberg from White Bear Lake, the only Minnesota composer in this year's group, paints silvery, glistening sounds in her "Celestial Dawning (Michael Anthony, Minneapolis Star Tribune)." Read the full article.
"Dal Niente became more organized and busier. Broberg went on to become the ensemble’s first executive director in 2009, and in 2010, the group made an award-winning appearance at International Festival for New Music in Darmstadt, which has long been associated with the most celebrated names in new music (It has since returned twice)." (Hannah Edgar, The Chicago Maroon). Read the full article.
“The increasingly prolific Kirsten Broberg also premiered her Origins, a stunning and picturesque five-movement work for mixed winds and strings (Bryant Manning, Chicago Classical Review). Read the full article.
"… Breathturn, by Chicago-based composer Kirsten Broberg, 30, which set five Paul Celan poems, expressing life and death matters, in a continuous piece that made you rethink what constitutes singing (David Patrick Stearns, the Philadephia Enquirer)." Read the full article.
"Kirsten Broberg has embraced the spectral approach in her own works: 'I am interested in drawing harmonic material from various spectra, such as an overtone series that I develop in a cycle,' Broberg says (Doyle Armbrust, Time Out Chicago)." Read the full article.
“Kirsten Broberg, founder of new-music ensemble dal niente, is no such snob. Earlier this year at the Green Mill, her contemporary ensemble delivered an anguished take on Radiohead’s “Nude,” with Masahito Sugihara’s sax standing in for Thom Yorke’s vocals (Bryant Manning, Time Out Chicago)." Read the full article.
"I did not know Broberg’s music beforehand, but now I want to know more of it. This was a sensitive, beautiful work that took advantage of the capabilities of the ensemble (Wes Flynn, Sequenza 21)." Read the full article.
“This ensemble just returned from Darmstadt, Germany, where it was presented with the Young Ensembles Award during the city’s New Music Summer Course, an esteemed symposium of lectures and premieres of new music, thereby elevating Chicago’s new-music cred internationally. Founded in 2004 by composer Kirsten Broberg, the group is now in residency as a kind of house band for Columbia College, giving the young artists in director Marcos Balter’s composition program a world-class group of instrumentalists to perform their works, rather than a lifeless MIDI keyboard (Doyle Armbrust, Time Out Chicago)." View the original link.
Photography of Kirsten Soriano Broberg by Jessica Quadra Photography