Gabriela Ortiz

Born to a musical family, Gabriela Ortiz has always felt she didn’t choose music —music chose her. Her parents were founding members of the group Los Folkloristas, a renowned music ensemble dedicated to performing Latin American folk music. Growing up in the cosmopolitan thriving metropolis of Mexico City, Ortiz’s music education was multifaceted. While playing charango and guitar with her parents’ group, she was also learning classical piano. Ortiz began her composition studies under the mentorship of renowned Mexican composers Mario Lavista, Julio Estrada, Federico Ibarra, and Daniel Catán. Later, she continued her studies in Europe, earning a doctorate in composition and electronic music from London’s City University under the guidance of Simon Emmerson. Ortiz’s music incorporates seemingly disparate musical worlds, from traditional and popular idioms to avant-garde techniques and multimedia works. This is, perhaps, the most salient characteristic of her oeuvre: an ingenious merging of distinct sonic worlds. While Ortiz continues to draw inspiration from Mexican subjects, she is interested in composing music that speaks to international audiences. From massive works for orchestra and chorus such as Yanga (2019), concertos as Fractalis (2022), politically charged operas as Only the Truth (2008), magical chamber works as Altar de muertos (1997), and intimate solo pieces as Canto a Hanna (2005), Ortiz’s music reveals a sophisticated compositional technique and a meticulous attention to rhythm and timbre. Her work has been performed by prestigious orchestras and ensembles such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, Ortiz received the Bellas Artes Gold Medal, the highest distinction granted by the National Institute of Fine Arts. Other major awards include the National Prize for Arts and Literature, Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Fulbright-García Robles Fellowship, and two Latin GRAMMY nominations. She is a member of the prestigious Academy of the Arts and has been admitted to El Colegio Nacional, Mexico’s foremost circle of intellectuals. Ortiz currently teaches composition at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. Her music is published by Boosey & Hawkes.