Biography
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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, Ascolta, and the New European Ensemble at festivals such as Présences, ManiFeste, ECLAT, Acht Brücken, Gaudeamus, and the Venice Biennale ; in 2022 he receives the Composer prize of the Siemens Musikstiftung.

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.

 

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 (1988, Bilbao) studied composition first at Musikene (San Sebastian) with Gabriel Erkoreka and Ramon Lazkano, then at Paris CNSM with Gérard Pesson. 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. As a PhD student of the SACRe doctoral program, he writes a thesis under the direction of Laurent Feneyrou, Stefano Gervasoni, and Francesca Alberti.

 
         
 
CNSMDP
PSL University
Peter Eötvös Foundation
Siemens Musikstiftung
Villa Medici
 
           
 
 

 

 

 


EVENTS
   
       
   
2024



January
1

Ars memoriae

for ensemble

Das Neue Ensemble

Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover



January
23

I nalt be clode on the frolt

for mezzo-soprano and ensemble

2e2m and Florent Didier

CRR de Paris



March
2, 4

Ships vanishing in the horizon

for ensemble

Sonido Extremo & Jordi Francés

CNDM Season, Madrid & Badajoz



March
29

Actes manqués (premiere)

commissioned by Ensemble Intercontemporain

Valeria Kafelnikov

Cité de la Musique, Paris



April
2

Feu de joie (premiere)

for wind orchestra

Mozart Conservatory students

IRCAM, Place Stravinsky



April
29, 30

Pièges de neige

Trio Catch

CNDM Season, Madrid & Badajoz



May
7

Opus latericium

PHACE Ensemble

Konzerthaus, Vienna



July
18

Violin concerto (premiere)

Francisco Fullana, JONDE, Pablo González

Les Arts, Valencia








LISTEN







Espiegle : CD monographique de l'ensemble C Barré

















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