Gabriela Ortiz

Grammy-winning Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz is our Featured Composer for the 2025/26 season. We open our 80th birthday celebrations with a brand new commission, Si el oxígeno fuera verde (If oxygen were green), which we will perform in London, Amsterdam, Vienna, and on a major US tour, culminating at Carnegie Hall. Pacho Flores plays her trumpet concerto Altar de Bronce (Altar of Bronze), cellist Alisa Weilerstein performs Dzonot, a concerto inspired by the caves and underground rivers of the Yucatán peninsula, and in March we play Tzam, dedicated to the memory of three of Ortiz’s  musical mentors. 

Ortiz’s music incorporates seemingly disparate musical worlds, from traditional and popular idioms to avant-garde techniques and multimedia works, with a meticulous attention to rhythm and timbre. While Ortiz continues to draw inspiration from Mexican subjects, she is interested in composing music that speaks to listeners everywhere.