‘A voice that deserves recognition’

She is a classical musician profoundly inspired by the traditional melodies and instruments of her homeland, Mexico. During her journey, some mentors and critics deemed her creations to be too unconventional.

However, at the recent Grammys, Gabriela Ortiz’s “Revolución Diamantina,” influenced by the 2019 “Glitter Revolution” feminist protests in Mexico addressing gender violence, won three accolades, which included recognition for conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, alongside an award for Ortiz for her composition.

Ortiz, 60, will be joined by Alejandro L. Madrid, the Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Music, on Wednesday for a discussion on campus regarding her extensive career and upcoming endeavors. Having recently completed a season as the composer in residence at Carnegie Hall, Ortiz has consistently dedicated her efforts to integrating Mexico’s sounds into classical compositions. 

“My upbringing was filled with music, and my parents established an amazing group named Los Folkloristas, committed to promoting Mexican music,” she expressed. Rehearsals featuring folk instruments from Latin America provided the soundtrack to her childhood. “I felt extremely lucky to experience such wonderful music and to learn to play it,” she remarked.

Renowned in Mexico as well as throughout Latin America and Europe, Ortiz has been actively engaging in the U.S., obtaining various commissions from orchestras in Los Angeles and New York, as noted by Madrid.

“She is arguably the most successful Latin American composer of the present day,” he shared. “She’s likely receiving some of the most significant commissions from orchestras in both the United States and Europe.”

“Revolución Diamantina” marked Ortiz’s first comprehensive album of orchestral pieces. The ballet, which was also her initial effort in this genre, was developed in collaboration with her brother Rubén Ortiz-Torres, a visual arts professor at UC San Diego, and Pulitzer Prize-winning Mexican novelist Cristina Rivera Garza, the M.D. Anderson Professor in Hispanic Studies at the University of Houston.

“I have always aspired to create a ballet. In a different life, I would have been a flamenco dancer because of my passion for flamenco. Dance, in general, is my second love,” Ortiz commented. When she received the commission from the LA Philharmonic, she recognized it as her opportunity to compose a ballet on an important subject.

Her brother’s use of glitter paint inspired her to contemplate Mexico’s recent movements advocating for women’s rights and legal safeguards. 

“Their collective interest revolved around the feminist surge in Latin America and its manifestations in Mexico with this moment known as the ‘Glitter Revolution,’ where women took to the streets advocating for equal rights and an end to gender violence,” Madrid elaborated.

The feminist initiative commenced as a series of protests in 2019 following a 17-year-old girl’s report of being assaulted by four police officers. Demonstrators destroyed bus stops, broke windows of police buildings, and spray-painted graffiti on historical sites. The predominantly female crowds demanded an end to gender violence in a country where ten women are murdered daily on average, in a region where 98 percent of gender-related homicides remain unpunished.

The movement was dubbed the ‘Glitter Revolution’ because protestors showered police officers with glitter.

“I can relate to that form of violence because I wouldn’t want to be in the position of a mother dealing with the death of her daughter,” Ortiz stated.

Even though she was in LA during the protests, Ortiz requested recordings from demonstrators and received thousands of replies. “At one point, I intended to create something using those recordings,” she mentioned. These recordings would later influence her award-winning ballet, encompassing dramaturgy crafted by Garza.

“Revolución Diamantina” is far from being Ortiz’s first initiative centered on contemporary topics, Madrid remarked. The composer’s “Únicamente la verdad” (“Only the Truth”) focuses on the legendary origin tale of Camelia la Texana, a character from Los Tigres del Norte’s narcocorrido “Contrabando Y Traición” (“Smuggling and Betrayal”). Additionally, Ortiz has composed a choral piece titled “Yanga,” which tells the story of a 16th-century African prince who escaped enslavement and established a free community in Mexico.

“She consistently addresses themes that are significant in our current world and in political contexts,” Madrid observed. The music professor is enthusiastic about presenting Ortiz to the Harvard community and discussing an impending showcase of “Revolución Diamantina” in Boston.

The event on campus is sponsored by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, the Department of Music, the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures, and the Consulado General de México en Boston.

Madrid hopes participants “perceive that this tradition belongs to them as well, and realize there’s a woman who is composing, is part of this tradition, and engages with artists globally.”

Ortiz has shattered numerous barriers in Mexico, Madrid noted; she “possesses a voice that must be acknowledged.”