MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

Biography

Angela Ortiz is a pianist, music director, arranger/orchestrator, composer/lyricist, and educator based in Brooklyn, NY.

As a pianist, her performing career has brought her to music festivals and venues across the country to open for artists like The Roots, Típica 73, Fania All-Stars and Tito Puente. She has performed onstage at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Bowl, Central Park Summerstage, Tuscon Performing Arts Center, the Blue Note Jazz Festival, TriBeCa Performing Arts Center and the NJ Performing Arts Center amongst others.

Her songwriting and composition work have been featured on NPR and reviewed in All About Jazz, Cadence Magazine and TimeOutNY. She released her first album “All About You” on Random Chance Records (which was made available worldwide through City Hall Records), and independently released her second album, “Dismantle This Bomb”. Her writing heavily features original horn and woodwind arrangements, intertwined with electronic and acoustic percussion and piano. Her music arrangements and works have enjoyed airplay on radio stations in the US, Poland, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Australia and New Zealand. 

She has also composed music for several film shorts that have been official selections at film festivals throughout the country, as well as been commissioned to write music for the contemporary art song initiative, The Modern Collective. Angela has also composed numerous works for musical theater and is currently working on a musical that incorporates contemporary sounds with Bomba, Plena and Salsa – the sounds of her father’s native Puerto Rico.

In addition to her composition and performing credits, she has extensive knowledge of working with singers, and has performed in several operas including the NY Premier of L’Enfant et les Sortileges (directed by Metropolitan Opera director Robin Guarino, with english libretto by Sheldon Harnick) and The Old Maid and the Thief (Frederick Lowe Theater).

Most recently she has music directed and arranged the music for “She Sings Me Home: A New Musical” which premiered at Green Room 42 and The Latiné Musical Theater Lab’s 4×15 new musical showcase at Teatro Latea.

Angela also helms a vocal and piano studio in Brooklyn where she prepares and coaches young students in NYC for specialized high school and theater auditions

She holds a Bachelor’s of Music degree from NYU’s Steinhardt School and has also studied latin/jazz piano at The Harbor Conservatory in Harlem and Berklee School of Music. Angela is also a member of the BMI Lehman/Engel Musical Theater Workshop.

Angela was also a competitive distance runner and qualified to run in the United States Olympic Trials marathon in 2020.