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reh. I - end
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Skills & Techniques: Accuracy, Endurance, Loud Playing, Marcato Style, Rhythms
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Horn 1-4 (F)
Due to restrictions, sheet music for this excerpt is not provided.
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New World Symphony (2022)
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Los Angeles Philharmonic (2024)
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Composer & Composition Information
Gabriela Ortiz (b. 1964)
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Born to a musical family, Gabriela Ortiz has always felt she didn’t choose music —music chose her. Her parents were founding members of the group Los Folkloristas, a renowned music ensemble dedicated to performing Latin American folk music. Growing up in the cosmopolitan thriving metropolis of Mexico City, Ortiz’s music education was multifaceted. While playing charango and guitar with her parents’ group, she was also learning classical piano. Ortiz began her composition studies under the mentorship of renowned Mexican composers Mario Lavista, Julio Estrada, Federico Ibarra, and Daniel Catán. Later, she continued her studies in Europe, earning a doctorate in composition and electronic 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 salient characteristic of her oeuvre: an ingenious merging of distinct sonic worlds. While Ortiz continues to draw inspiration from Mexican subjects, she is interested in composing music that speaks to international audiences.
The text & image are reprinted from Gabriela Ortiz's Website where more information about the composer can be found. |
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Kauyumari
Among the Huichol people of Mexico, Kauyumari means “blue deer.” The blue deer represents a spiritual guide, one that is transformed through an extended pilgrimage into a hallucinogenic cactus called peyote. It allows the Huichol to communicate with their ancestors, do their bidding, and take on their role as guardians of the planet. Each year, these Native Mexicans embark on a symbolic journey to “hunt” the blue deer, making offerings in gratitude for having been granted access to the invisible world, through which they also are able to heal the wounds of the soul.
When I received the commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to compose a piece that would reflect on our return to the stage following the pandemic, I immediately thought of the blue deer and its power to enter the world of the intangible as akin to a celebration of the reopening of live music. Specifically, I thought of a Huichol melody sung by the De La Cruz family — dedicated to recording ancestral folklore — that I used for the final movement of my piece, Altar de Muertos (Altar of the Dead), commissioned by the Kronos String Quartet in 1997.
The text is written by & reprinted from Gabriela Ortiz (Los Angeles Philharmonic) where more information about the composition can be found.
When I received the commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to compose a piece that would reflect on our return to the stage following the pandemic, I immediately thought of the blue deer and its power to enter the world of the intangible as akin to a celebration of the reopening of live music. Specifically, I thought of a Huichol melody sung by the De La Cruz family — dedicated to recording ancestral folklore — that I used for the final movement of my piece, Altar de Muertos (Altar of the Dead), commissioned by the Kronos String Quartet in 1997.
The text is written by & reprinted from Gabriela Ortiz (Los Angeles Philharmonic) where more information about the composition can be found.
Notable Performances/Recordings:
Los Angeles Philharmonic (2024)
New World Symphony (2022)
Los Angeles Philharmonic (2024)
New World Symphony (2022)