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Ernst von Siemens Composer prize 2022
Georges Enesco prize SACEM 2023









 

  BIOGRAPHY      
 

Mikel Urquiza (1988, Bilbao) writes lively, colourful music, where things are not what they seem : every idea hides another one, peripheral elements become central, and what looks serious pulls a face. Fresh and original, his voice has quickly found its place within the European scene, carried by the ensemble Intercontemporain, L'Instant Donné, C Barré, Musikfabrik, Mosaik, Divertimento, and the New European Ensemble at festivals such as Présences, ManiFeste, ECLAT, Acht Brücken, Gaudeamus, in Lucerne, and at the Venice Biennale.

In 2022 he receives the Composer prize of the Siemens Musikstiftung and in 2023 the Georges Enesco prize of the SACEM. In 2023-2024, he is the guest composer of Divertimento ensemble, the Meridian Festival in Bucharest, and the Tampere Biennale.

A choir singer all along his youth, he is passionate about voice and shows it in Alfabet, written for Sarah Maria Sun, I nalt be clode on the frolt, for Marion Tassou, Songs of Spam, for the Neue Vocalsolisten, and Howl, premiered by the vocal ensemble Exaudi at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik 2022. In 2021, Ryoko Aoki premiers Chiisana tsubame at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

 

His chamber music pieces, full of imitative writing, bizarre associations, and all sort of tricks, are premiered by first-class partners such as Trio Catch, which performs Pièges de neige at the Cologne Philharmonie, Radial System in Berlin, and the Resonanz Raum in Hamburg, or the Diotima Quartet, which premieres his first string quartet Indicio at the Festival Pontino in Italy, and the second string quartet Index at the Festival Musica in Strasburg.

Mikel Urquiza studied composition first at Musikene (San Sebastian) with Gabriel Erkoreka and Ramon Lazkano, then at Paris CNSM with Gérard Pesson and Stefano Gervasoni. In 2019-2020 he is first mentored by the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation, then a fellow of the French Academy in Rome - Villa Medici. His PhD thesis, written within the SACRe programme and tutored by Laurent Feneyrou, is intitled "Music regained: memory at work in musical composition".

His two monographic CDs, Cherche titre (featuring L'Instant Donné and Marion Tassou) and Espiègle (featuring C Barré and the Neue Vocalsolisten), have been enthusiastically praised by the critic and broadcast by the main radios in Europe.

 
         
 
CNSMDP
PSL University
Peter Eötvös Foundation
Siemens Musikstiftung
Villa Medici
 
           
 
 

 

 

 


EVENTS


       
   
2024



October
11

Ars memoriae

OpusNovus ensemble

YST Conservatory of Music, Singapore



October
12

La pluie dans un verre d'eau

Dietmar Wiesner (Ensemble Modern)

Crespo Haus, Frankfurt am Main



October
12, 14

Oiseaux gazouillants et hibou qui se retourne

MIKAMO & Ajtony Csaba

Budapest & Vienna



November
5

Contrapluma

Adriana Toacsen

Meridian Festival, Bucarest



November
8

Les perfectibilités (première)

Kebyart ensemble

Música en Segura



November
24

Beyond accordion (masterclass)

with Margherita Berlanda

Salotto in prova, Brescia



November
25

Les perfectibilités

Kebyart ensemble

Palau de la Música, Barcelona



November
26

Ars memoriae

Schallfeld ensemble

Musikagileak Cycle, San Sebastian



December
10, 20

Les perfectibilités

Kebyart ensemble

Valencia & Vitoria



December
14, 21

Chiisana tsubame

Ryoko Aoki & Aldo Mata

San Sebastian & Vitoria



2025



January
16

Les perfectibilités

Kebyart ensemble

Göpingen



February
5, 8

Les perfectibilités

Kebyart ensemble

Siegen & Madrid



February
11

Respirare l'ombra

Frames percussion

Musikagileak cycle, San Sebastian



February
25

I nalt be clode on the frolt

Donatienne Michel-Dansac &

United Instruments of Lucilin

Philharmonie de Luxembourg



March
8

Les perfectibilités

Kebyart ensemble

Philharmonie de Paris



March
21, 23

Les perfectibilités

Kebyart ensemble

Vaduz & Heidelberg Frühling



April
4, 5

Les perfectibilités

Kebyart ensemble

Vila-Seca & Banyoles



May
2

Passage à l'acte

Dillon & Torquati

Milano Musica



May
18

Les perfectibilités

Kebyart ensemble

Burgdorf








LISTEN







Espiegle : CD monographique de l'ensemble C Barré & Neue Vocalsolisten

















Cherche titre : CD by L'Instant Donné


















Alfabet - Sarah Maria Sun & Musikfabrik










Oiseaux gazouillants et hibou qui se retourne - Ensemble Intercontemporain & Matthias Pintscher










Mis monstruos marinos - Euskadiko Orkestra & Ruth Reinhardt










Ars memoriae - Umze ensemble & Rémi Durupt













+ See the catalogue











urquizamikel@gmail.com