Mikel Urquiza studied composition at Musikene (San Sebastian) with Gabriel Erkoreka and Ramon Lazkano, then at the Paris Conservatory with Gérard Pesson. In 2014 followed the Voix nouvelles program in Royaumont. In 2019, he was sponsored by the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation and was resident of the Villa Medici in 2019-2020.
He has written several series of melodies such as Alfabet, for Sarah Maria Sun, I nalt be clode on the frolt, for Marion Tassou, and Songs of Spam, for the Neue Vocalsolisten.
His piano piece Contrapluma travelled through the ECHO network performed by Mariam Batsashvili—from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to the Musikverein in Vienna—and was proposed at the Ferruccio Busoni Competition and the Concours International d'Orléans.