Ortiz’s Revolución diamantina Is “an Earth-Moving Affair”
Gabriela Ortiz’s new ballet debuted to critical acclaim with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel in November, as part of the inaugural California Festival.
Gabriela Ortiz’s Revolución diamantina, a new ballet for voices and orchestra, stunned audiences and critics when it premiered on November 16–19 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel. The new ballet for orchestra and eight amplified voices, created in collaboration with scenarist Cristina Rivera Garza, is named after the 2019 “Glitter Revolution” in Mexico City where women took to the streets to draw attention to pervasive sexual violence.
The piece drew strong comparisons to several of Ortiz’s compositional heroes. The Wall Street Journal noted, “Ms. Ortiz’s ambitious and appealing score rang with unmistakable allusions to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring … and more than a few moments that recalled Bartók’s now-neglected ballets.” The San Francisco Classical Voice proclaimed that Ortiz has “outdone herself with this often thrilling 45-minute ballet”; Adventures in Music agreed that this was “one of the most powerful scores the composer has yet penned,” praising its “ravishing invention and intensity.”
Praise for Revolución diamantina:
Wall Street Journal
“Ms. Ortiz’s ambitious and appealing score rang with unmistakable allusions to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, evocations of the lush film music of Franz Waxman, the surging strains of John Adams, and more than a few moments that recalled Bartók’s now-neglected ballets. Mr. Dudamel made it all sound wonderfully lucid and palpably powerful.”
Adventures in Music
“Tremendous ... roaring ... gripping … an earth-moving affair.”
“an orchestral score of ravishing invention and intensity”
“one of the most powerful scores the composer has yet penned”
San Francisco Classical Voice
“The pièce de résistance was the world premiere of Revolución diamantina."
“Ortiz has come up with exciting, groove-driven material over the past few years—and she may have outdone herself with this often thrilling 45-minute ballet, unveiled here in a concert version.”
> Further information on Work: Revolución diamantina
Photo: Mara Arteaga
