Gabriel Erkoreka was born in Bilbao in 1969. He studied composition at the Arriaga Superior Conservatoire, with Carmelo Bernaola in Vitoria, and at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Michael Finnissy. He obtained the DipRAM and a Master’s Degree with Distinction from the University of London.
His works have been performed at many venues and festivals, including: the Biennale di Venezia in 2004, 2014 and 2019; the ISCM World Music Days in Manchester (1998), Hong Kong (2007) and Beijing (2018); the Musikverein in Vienna; the South Bank Centre, ICA and Wigmore Hall in London; the Festival Musica Strasbourg; the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival; the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall; Carnegie Hall and Symphony Space in New York; the Time of Music Festival in Viitasaari (Finland); the Suså Festival (Denmark); the Konzerthaus in Berlin; the SWR JetztMusik in Mannheim; the Salle Cortot in Paris, as well as in other cities such as St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires and Sydney.
He has received commissions, among others, from the Nieuw Ensemble, Arditti Quartet, Hannover Biennale für Neue Musik, ensemble recherche, Ensemble Court-Circuit, PluralEnsemble, Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, National Orchestra of Spain, Cadaqués Orchestra, Basque National Orchestra and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to mark its tenth anniversary. He was composer-in-residence with the Spanish National Youth Orchestra (JONDE) during the 2001–2002 season. In 2018 he was given Carte Blanche with the OCNE, celebrated at the National Music Auditorium in Madrid.
His music has been released on video by the BBVA Foundation, and on audio on the Stradivarius, KAIROS, Harmonia Mundi, Verso, IBS Classical and Odrarek labels. His works are published by Tritó Edicions and Oxford University Press.
Erkoreka has won various awards for his compositions, such as the Reina Sofia Prize for Music Composition in 2008, First Prize at the 1996 SGAE Awards, and the Josiah Parker Prize from the Royal Academy of Music. In 2001 he won the Prix de Rome and the Composition Prize awarded by the Colegio de España in Paris and the INAEM. He has participated at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers, and the 1998 Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam.
In 2001 he was made an Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM), where he taught orchestration. In 2014 he held the Manuel de Falla Chair of Composition in Seville, and also he gave the opening lecture at the University of the Basque Country Summer Courses. He has given conferences at the Berlin University of Arts (UdK), Estoril and Lisbon Festival, and the Complutense University of Madrid. He currently holds the post of professor in composition at MUSIKENE.
Gabriel Erkoreka has received the 2021 National Music Award in Composition, given by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.
www.erkoreka.com