Released on the Platoon label, composer Gabriela Ortiz has released her new album entitled Yanga.

The album features the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and pianist Joanne Pearce Martin.

The centerpiece of the recording is the titular work Yanga, which was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a companion piece to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

The piece's title is an homage to Gaspar Yanga, a sixteenth-century African prince who was captured and enslaved in Mexico before escaping and leading a series of daring raids that earned concessions from Spanish colonial settlements. Ortiz's composition for orchestra and chorus uses both traditional African instruments alongside text by the Spanish writer Santiago Martín Bermúdez to pay tribute to Yanga's legacy as a symbol of the Mexican struggle for independence.

Also included on the album are Seis piezas a Violeta, Ortiz's 2023 work for string orchestra and piano which honors Chilean singer-songwriter and folklorist Violeta Parra, and Dzonot, a cello concerto inspired by Mayan and Mexican traditions and performed by cellist Alisa Weilerstein.

"Her music is so evocative and colorful and very engaging," says Weilerstein of Ortiz's work. "And Dzonot is certainly no different. It's so vivid, with these vibrant colors. I you listen to her speak about music and art, you discover she's obsessed with water. She feels a deep connection with environmental elements, and especially those that are endangered. You can hear the water rippling in this piece. You can almost see the colors, the reflections of light."

"Dzonot is a wonderful example of music of our time that evokes an entire world in sound--it's really quite remarkable," continues Weilerstein.

Hear the full album below:

 

Mexican-born composer Gabriela Ortiz has received accolades including the Bellas Artes Gold Medal, Mexico's National Prize for Arts and Literature, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Fulbright-García Robles Fellowship. She is also the recipient of three Grammy Awards and two Latin Grammy Awards. Ortiz is the founder of Los Folkloristas, an ensemble dedicated to the indigenous and traditional music of Mexico, and she is currently the composer-in-residence at the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Carnegie Hall.