Gabriel Erkoreka: Ametsak
Ametsak 2
14,95€
With AMETSAK, IBS Classical releases a compelling monographic album devoted to Gabriel Erkoreka, one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Spanish music. Performed by Zahir Ensemble under the direction of Juan García Rodríguez, the recording explores the relationship between mind, memory, and the perception of time through seven works written between 2001 and 2023.
At its core lies the Ametsak cycle (2013–2021), a chamber triptych inspired by the dream state, where sound becomes malleable and time is experienced as a flexible, subjective dimension. The album also includes Trance, a landmark work in Erkoreka’s catalogue, alongside Izaro, Orreaga, and Tomba del tuffatore, pieces that connect inner psychological states with symbolic places and cultural memory.
Recorded in Seville in 2024, AMETSAK offers an intense, immersive listening experience and a coherent portrait of Erkoreka’s singular creative universe.
BOOKLET
14,95€
Ametsak
Cartographies of the Mind: Music on the Margins of Consciousness
After exploring themes such as folklore and nature in the early stages of his career, Gabriel Erkoreka opened a new line of research in his musical output in the late 2000s, through works that observe the states and mechanisms of the human mind. The Bilbao-born composer had already presented scenarios of great psychological tension in early creations, such as the duo Saturno (1997), which recreates the god devouring his own son, with highly dramatic interactions between the two instruments. The exploration of the mind, and specifically the behaviour of the psyche in extreme situations, became more frequent since Trance (2008), Ertzak (Limits, 2010) and Kaiolan (In the Cage, 2010).
The three works entitled Ametsak (which means “dreams” in Basque) were composed between 2013 and 2021, and observe the distortion of reality that occurs during the state of sleep, paying particular attention to the relationship between memory and time. Erkoreka’s approach here is bold, as it departs from the linear logic that one might say should govern a musical work, to delve into the uncharted territories of altered perception, where sound becomes malleable matter and time a flexible dimension.
The triptych proposes a fundamental reflection on the nature of music as an art inextricably linked to time. Starting from the premise that time is a dimension we perceive through our minds, if dreams escape rational logic (deforming, fragmenting, suspending ideas and concepts), then distorted sounds would also have the potential to alter our perception of time. It is a space of ambiguity in which Erkoreka finds fertile ground to introduce an additional element: memory, which in these scores is presented not only as an archive, but as an agent of transformation, and which, consequently, triggers that time is no longer so much a measure, but an experience.
Mikel Chamizo
GABRIEL ERKOREKA
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 DVD by the BBVA Foundation, and on CD on the Ondine, Stradivarius, KAIROS, Harmonia Mundi, IBS Classical and Verso 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.
ZAHIR ENSEMBLE
The trajectory of the Seville-based group demonstrates their commitment to performing the vast repertoire of our time, encompassing a wide range of aesthetic styles and significant artistic and historical relevance, which is generally absent from traditional programming. To give an idea of the group’s national and international scope, beyond its members, it’s worth highlighting their participation in European festivals and venues such as the Taschenopern Festival in Salzburg (Austria), Eröffnungsfest der Salzburger Festspiele (Inaugural Festival of Salzburg, 2005), Solitär Saal of the Mozarteum University (Salzburg), Musique en Cité(s) (Marseille, France), Concert Hall of the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw (Poland), and in Spain at events such as the Contemporary Music Cycle of the Seville City Council, Contemporary Music of Córdoba, Festival de las Artes No Camiño in Lugo, International Music Festival “A orillas del Guadalquivir” in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Seville Guitar Festival, Mostra Sonora de Sueca in Valencia, Smash Festival in Salamanca, Third Millennium Music Cycle in Madrid, and the Projecte Rafel Festival (Rafelbunyol, Valencia), among others. They have also performed in venues such as the Villamarta Theatre in Jerez, Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Auditorium 400 of the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, Bilbao Conservatory, and Alhambra Theatre in Granada. Especially notable for the programs presented and the number of editions in which the ensemble has participated is their presence at the Contemporary Music Cycles organized by the Regional Government of Andalusia at the Central Theatre in Seville (2007-08 and 2010-17). Highlights include the Spanish premieres of works such as The Fall of the House of Usher by Philip Glass, In Vain by G.F. Haas, ASKO Concerto by Elliott Carter, Ballet Mécanique (original version) by G. Antheil, Proverb by Steve Reich, and Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing by John L. Adams. The ensemble also organizes its own concert series in the city of Seville (with the support of the University of Seville), which this year marks its fifteenth edition. The group has released seven CDs, including monographs dedicated to José María Sánchez-Verdú (Verso, 2009), which was chosen as “Exceptional Album of March 2010” by Scherzo magazine, and another dedicated to Schoenberg (Naxos, 2011). They also produced two CDs of young Spanish composers (2010 and 2011), published by Injuve. In 2019, Zahir began an artistic collaboration with the IBSClassical label, with their first album being Anatomías, dedicated to solo and ensemble works by Luis de Pablo, followed by a second album featuring works by César Camarero, and their latest release focusing on Eneko Vadillo. After the current work, two more projects are set to be released in 2025: one featuring vocal works by Alberto Ginastera, and the other, a monograph dedicated to Gabriel Erkoreka.
JUAN GARCÍA RODRÍGUEZ, conductor
Juan García Rodríguez is recognized as one of the most versatile conductors on the Spanish music scene. His ability to tackle a wide range of repertoire, from Classical works to the most avant-garde compositions of the 21st century, has established him as a highly respected and sought-after conductor. Educated at prestigious institutions, including the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, where he studied with Dennis Russell Davies, and the Fryderyk Chopin University of Warsaw.
García Rodríguez has collaborated with numerous renowned orchestras, including the Bruckner Orchester Linz, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, ÖENM, Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, and Paris Opera Orchestra. This has enabled him to successfully interpret complex and rarely performed works, such as Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony, Ligeti’s Concertos, Georg Friedrich Haas’s In Vain, and Raphaël Cendo’s Introduction aux Ténèbres. He has conducted in prominent venues such as the Great Hall of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Solitär Saal of the Mozarteum, Brucknerhaus in Linz, Auditorio 400 in Madrid, Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Teatro Central in Seville, Palau de Les Arts in Valencia, Great Hall of the Chopin University in Warsaw, Cemat Resil Rey in Istanbul, and Endler Hall at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). Additionally, he has worked on the operatic repertoire in institutions such as the Teatro de la Maestranza (Seville), Teatro Villamarta (Jerez), Landestheater Salzburg, Landestheater Linz, and Opéra National de Paris Bastille. As the founder and director of the Zahir Ensemble, he has actively promoted contemporary music in Spain, premiering numerous composers like Luis de Pablo, Cristóbal Halffter, José María Sánchez-Verdú, César Camarero, and Gabriel Erkoreka. His leadership of the Orquesta Sinfónica Conjunta, an innovative youth orchestra project between the University of Seville and the Conservatorio Superior “Manuel Castillo”—praised by critics for the intensity and quality of its performances and the originality of its programming—has created a remarkable impact on Seville’s music scene. During his tenure as Music Director of the Taschenoper Festival in Salzburg (2005–2017), he solidified the festival as a space of innovation and avant-garde in contemporary opera, commissioning and premiering over 40 new operas by key composers of today’s scene, such as Reinhard Febel, Christian Ofenbauer, Sarah Nemtsov, Michael Beil, Brigitta Muntendorf, Lisa Streich, and Stephan Winkler. Juan García Rodríguez holds a Master’s in Orchestral, Choral Conducting, and Composition from the Mozarteum University of Salzburg and a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Warsaw. He is currently a full member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts “Santa Isabel de Hungría” in Seville and a professor at the Conservatorio Superior “Manuel Castillo.”
