Leading International Composers: Gabriela Ortiz
with Attacca String Quartet
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 renownedensemble 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 popularidioms 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 thatspeaks to international audiences.
A landmark achievement in her career came in 2025 when her portrait album Revolucióndiamantina, 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.
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 demuertos (1997), and intimate solo pieces as Canto a Hanna (2005), Ortiz’s music reveals asophisticated compositional technique and a meticulous attention to rhythm and timbre. Herwork has been performed by prestigious orchestras and ensembles such as the BerlinerPhilharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Los AngelesPhilharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra.
Ortiz’s many accolades include the 2022 Bellas Artes Gold Medal, Mexico’s National Prize for Arts and Literature, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright-García Robles Fellowship, and two Latin GRAMMY nominations. She is a member of the Academy of the Arts and has been inducted into El Colegio Nacional, Mexico’s most esteemed circle of intellectuals.
Ortiz is currently composer-in–residence at Carnegie Hall, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla yLeón, and the Curtis Institute of Music. She also teaches composition at Mexico’s NationalAutonomous University. Her music is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
Two-time Grammy-award winning Attacca Quartet, as described by The Nation, “lives in the present aesthetically, without rejecting the virtues of the musical past”, and are recognized and acclaimed as one of the most versatile and outstanding ensembles of the moment — a true quartet for modern times. Gliding through traditional classical repertoire to electronica, video game music and contemporary collaborations, they are one of the world's most innovative and respected ensembles.
Passionate advocates of contemporary repertoire, the quartet are dedicated to presenting and recording new works. Their two releases 'Orange' and ‘Evergreen’ in collaboration with Caroline Shaw won the 2020 and 2023 GRAMMY awards for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.
In 2021, the quartet announced their signing to SONY Classical, releasing two albums, 'Real Life' and ‘Of All Joys’, that embody their range as a contemporary quartet at home in the studio and on stage. 'Real Life' explores collaborations with leading electronica artists like TOKiMONSTA, Dedalus, and Squarepusher, and 'Of All Joys' unites the music of the Renaissance with modern minimalist giants Philip Glass and Arvo Pärt.
The quartet continue to perform in the world's best venues and festivals, with highlights including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Sala Sao Paolo, SFJazz, Paris’ Théâtre de la Ville, Palau de la Musica, Concertgebouw Bruges, De Doelen, Kings Place, and Amsterdam’s String Quartet Biennale.
Attacca Quartet was formed at the Juilliard School by Amy Schroeder and Andrew Yee in 2003.
