About the Composer:  

Latin Grammy-nominated Gabriela Ortiz is one of the foremost composers in Mexico today, and one of the most vibrant musicians emerging in the international scene. Her musical language achieves an extraordinary and expressive synthesis of tradition and the avant-garde; combining high art, folk music and jazz in novel, frequently refined and always personal ways. Her compositions are credited for being both entertaining and immediate as well as profound and sophisticated; she achieves a balance between highly organized structure and improvisatory spontaneity.  

Her music has been commissioned and played by renowned soloists, conductors, major ensembles and orchestras such as: Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Zoltan Kocsis, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Alondra de la Parra, Kroumata and Amadinda Percussion Ensembles, Kronos Quartet, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Southwest Chamber Music, Tambuco Percussion Quartet, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, The Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra, The Malmo Symphony Orchestra, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Dawn Upshaw, Sarah Leonard, Alejandro Escuer, Pierre Amoyal, among others. Recent premieres include: Yanga and Téenek (both pieces commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel), Luciérnaga (her third opera, commissioned and produced by the National University of Mexico), Únicamente la Verdad (her first opera) with Long Beach Opera and Opera de Bellas Artes in Mexico. She has also collaborated with practically every orchestra, conductor, soloist, and ensemble in Mexico. 

Born in Mexico City, her parents were musicians in the famous folk music ensemble Los Folkloristas, founded in 1966 to preserve and record the traditional music of Mexico and Latin America. She trained with the eminent composer Mario Lavista at the National Conservatory of Music and Federico Ibarra at the National University of Mexico. In 1990, she was awarded the British Council Fellowship to study in London with Robert Saxton at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1992, she received the University of Mexico Scholarship to complete Ph.D. studies in electroacoustic music composition with Simon Emmerson at The City University in London. 

She currently teaches composition at the Mexican University of Mexico City and as a visiting faculty at Indiana University.

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