Festival of Contemporary Music: Gabriela Ortiz
Date/Time
Location
Tanglewood (297 West St., Lenox, MA 01240, Lenox MA)
Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music celebrates Grammy awardwinning composrand musician Gabriela Ortiz and the Mexican traditions she embraces.
Gabriela ORTIZ Tin-Tan – Fanfarria y Mambo
ORTIZ Puzzle-Tocas
ORTIZ Tres Haikus
CHÁVEZ Cantos de Mexico
LAVISTA Reflejos de la noche
Diana SYRSE Mi Canto
ORTIZ Río Bravo
2025 Festival of Contemporary Music
Born to a musical family in Mexico City, Gabriela Ortiz has always felt she didn’t choose music — music chose her. Her parents were founding members of Los Folkloristas, a renowned ensemble dedicated to performing Latin American folk music. While playing charango and guitar with her parents’ group, she was also learning classical piano.
Her formal studies began under esteemed Mexican composers Mario Lavista, Federico Ibarra, and Daniel Catán. Later, shecontinued her studies in Europe, earning a master’s degree at Guild Hall School of Music andDrama under the guidance of Robert Saxton, and earning a doctorate in composition andelectronic 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 salientcharacteristic of her oeuvre: an ingenious merging of distinct sonic worlds. While Ortizcontinues to draw inspiration from Mexican subjects, she is interested in composing music that speaks to international audiences.
A landmark achievement in her career came in 2025 when her portrait album Revolución diamantina, recorded by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, won three GRAMMY Awards, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition for the title track. This historic recognition solidified her as a leading voice in contemporary classical music.