In 2004 Gabriela
was a recipient of a grant from the Albert Schweitzer
Foundation. This grant enabled Gabriela to begin organizing
a series of chamber music concerts in cancer units at
various hospitals in Boston called the Boston Hope Ensemble.
Gabriela holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from
New England Conservatory, where she was a student of
James Buswell. Gabriela has attended the Aspen Music
Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, and has performed
at the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Newport Chamber
Music Festival, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, North
Country Chamber Players, Monadnock Music, Apple Hill,
Vail Valley Bravo Music Festival, and Cactus Pear Festival,
among others. In the summer of 2007 Gabriela acted as
Concertmistress under Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival
Academy in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Devoted to contemporary music, Gabriela has been fortunate
to work closely with many significant living composers
on their own compositions, namely Pierre Boulez, Magnus
Lindberg, Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Lucier, Steve Reich,
Brian Ferneyhough, John Zorn, Osvaldo Golijov, Lee Hyla,
and Helmut Lachenmann. In 2003 she won the BMOP/NEC
concerto competition, playing Zorn’s Contes des
Fees with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. She also
became the youngest person to ever record the Ligeti
Violin Concerto, recorded for Mode Records with New
England Conservatory’s Contemporary Ensemble (not
yet released). A reviewer commented on her performance
of the concerto, “Gabriela Diaz, whose astonishing
performance of György Ligeti’s 1993 Violin
Concerto sent the audience into raptures at the opening
celebration of the centennial of Jordan Hall.”
She is actively involved in contemporary music in Boston,
and is a member of the Callithumpian Consort, Firebird,
Ludovico, and Dinosaur Annex, and Sound Icon Ensembles.
Boston critics have mentioned Gabriela as “a young
violin master... Diaz shone in her extended solo passages.”
Lloyd Schwartz of the Boston Phoenix noted,
“…Gabriela Diaz in a bewitching performance
of Pierre Boulez’s 1991 Anthèmes. The come-hither
meow of Diaz’s upward slides and her sustained
pianissimo fade-out were miracles of color, texture,
and feeling.” Others have remarked on her “vibrant
playing,” “polished technique,” and
“vivid and elegant playing.” Recordings
available: Mode Records, New World Records, BMOPSound,
Centaur Records.
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