Born to a musical family in Mexico City, she has always felt she didn’t choose music—music chose her. Her parents were founding members of Los Folkloristas, a renowned ensemble 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, she continued her studies in Europe, earning a master’s degree at Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the guidance of Robert Saxton, and earning a doctorate in composition and electronic music from London’s City University under the guidance of Simon Emmerson.Her 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.In 2025 and 2026, Ortiz received four Grammy Awards for her portrait albums Revolución diamantina and Yanga, recorded by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, including back-to-back wins for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. She is the first composer in Grammy history to win this award in successive years, affirming her status as a leading voice in contemporary classical music.From massive works for orchestra and chorus such as Yanga (2019), concertos such as Fractalis (2022), politically charged operas such as Only the Truth (2008), magical chamber works such as Altar de muertos (1997), and intimate solo pieces such as Canto a Hanna (2005), Ortiz’s music reveals a sophisticated compositional technique and a meticulous attention to rhythm and timbre. Her work has been performed by prestigious orchestras and ensembles such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra.Her 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 has previously served as composer-in-residence with Carnegie Hall and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. 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.She is currently composer-in-residence at The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Philharmonia in London, and the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. She also teaches composition at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. Her music is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
Born to a musical family in Mexico City, she has always felt she didn’t choose music—music chose her. Her parents were founding members of Los Folkloristas, a renowned ensemble 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, she continued her studies in Europe, earning a master’s degree at Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the guidance of Robert Saxton, and earning a doctorate in composition and electronic music from London’s City University under the guidance of Simon Emmerson.Her 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.In 2025 and 2026, Ortiz received four Grammy Awards for her portrait albums Revolución diamantina and Yanga, recorded by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, including back-to-back wins for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. She is the first composer in Grammy history to win this award in successive years, affirming her status as a leading voice in contemporary classical music.From massive works for orchestra and chorus such as Yanga (2019), concertos such as Fractalis (2022), politically charged operas such as Only the Truth (2008), magical chamber works such as Altar de muertos (1997), and intimate solo pieces such as Canto a Hanna (2005), Ortiz’s music reveals a sophisticated compositional technique and a meticulous attention to rhythm and timbre. Her work has been performed by prestigious orchestras and ensembles such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra.Her 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 has previously served as composer-in-residence with Carnegie Hall and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. 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.She is currently composer-in-residence at The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Philharmonia in London, and the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. She also teaches composition at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. Her music is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
