With the successful premiere of her opera "Luciérnaga" (Firefly) and the reprising of her Téenek — Invenciones de Territorio, by the LA Phil this past month, Gabriela Ortiz show us again how great of a composer she is.
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Premiered on October 10th, the opera, with a libretto written by Silvia Peláez and commissioned by the festival Vertice of UNAM, tells the story of Alcira Soust Scaffo, an Uruguayan poet, who locked herself in the male toilet of the Tower of Humanities at UNAM, during a military intervention to the university on September 18, 1968.
Like in other of her politically charged works (like her other opera Camelia La Tejana), Ortiz's writing is very colourful and descriptive. (Click here to read a review in the Mexican Cultural Center)
The LA Phil commissioned, gave world premiere of Téenek – Invenciones de Territorio in 2017, and performed it again this last october 12th.
Téenek is a sonorous metaphor of our transcendence, a strength that alludes to a future where there are no borders, but rather, a recognition of the actual particularities and differences between us that propitiate our development while at the same time enriching and uplifting us. (Click here for more information on her piece)
After these two performance success, Gabriela Ortiz worked with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on two concertos in Glasgow and Edinburg, and then on the recording of Hominum with Decca.
To learn more about Gabriela Ortiz, click here.