Gabriela Ortiz

Born in 1964 in Mexico City, Gabriela Ortiz is one of the leading Mexican composers of her generation. Her parents were folk musicians, and ethnic music was an important early influence. But her subsequent classical training gave Ortiz a particularly wide range of reference stylistically, and this is reflected in the varied sonic pathways she has explored in her music. These range from experimental electroacoustic pieces like Five Micro-Études for tape (1992), to the busy, burbling textures of the Concierto Candela for percussion and orchestra (1993). The string quartet Altar de muertos (1997), inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead, adopts a bold, multi-media approach to integrating the diverse elements in Ortiz’s music, with Mexican masks for the performers, a stage set, and video content. Nor does Ortiz shrink from examining the darker side of Mexican life, addressing drug smuggling in her vibrantly atmospheric 2008 opera ¡Únicamente La Verdad! (Only the Truth).