Meet the Composer: Mikel Urquiza

Mikel Urquiza’s (*1988, Bilbao) music is not quite what it seems at first, and his fresh and original expression has quickly found a place on European stages. He won the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Composer’s Prize in 2023. Previous winners include Beat Furrer, Chaya Czernowin and Clara Iannotta. 

Urquiza studied composition first at the San Sebastian Musikene under Gabriel Erkoreka and Ramon Lazkano, and then at the Paris CNSM under Gérard Pesson. In 2019, he received the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation stipend, and the following year he was the resident artist at the French Academy in Villa Medici. He is currently writing his dissertation as a doctoral student of the SACRe-programme.

You are welcome to come and listen to the festival’s guest composer, whose music will be performed at the Tampere Biennale by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Marko Ylönen & Friends and Crash Ensemble.

In co-operation: Tampere University of Applied Sciences