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Biography
The music of Turkish/American composer Kamran Ince bridges Anatolia and Balkans to the West. The energy and rawness of Turkish and Balkan folk music, the spirituality of Byzantium and Ottoman court music, the tradition of European art music and the extravert and popular qualities of the American psyche are the base of his sound world. These ingredients happily breathe in cohesion, and they spin the linear and vertical contrasts so essential to his music forward.
Hailed by The Los Angeles Times as “that rare composer able to sound connected with modern music, and yet still seem exotic”, Ince was born in Montana in 1960 to American and Turkish parents. He holds a Doctorate from Eastman School of Music, and currently serves as Professor of Composition at University of Memphis and at MIAM (Center for Advanced Research in Music) at the Istanbul Technical University. His numerous prizes include the Prix de Rome, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lili Boulanger Prize, and the Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His Waves of Talya was named one of the best chamber works of the 20th Century by a living composer in the Chamber Music Magazine.
His works are performed by such orchestras as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Symphony Orchestra, and such ensembles as the Netherlands Blazers Ensemble, Chanticleer Choir, and the Los Angeles Piano Quartet. Concerts devoted to his music have recently been heard at the Holland Festival, CBC Encounter Series (Toronto), the Istanbul International Music Festival, Estoril Festival (Lisbon), TurkFest (London), and Cultural Influences in Globalization Festival (Ho Chi Minh City). In addition to symphonic and chamber works, his catalogue also includes music for film and ballet. His music is published by Schott Music Corporation.
Commissions he has received includes those from Ford Foundation, Fromm Foundation, Koussevitzky Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Reader's Digest and Pew Charitable Trust. His latest projects include Songs With Other Words (2014) (recomposing of selected movements from Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words) for Spark and Schleswig-Holstein Festival; Abandoned (2014), a dramatic work (mini opera) for Opera Memphis' Ghosts of Crosstown Project; Fortuna Sepio Nos (2013), a piano trio for Arkas Trio; it's a nasreddin (2012) for Berlin Counterpoint and Istanbul Festival; Zamboturfidir (2012) for Irish Arts Council 2011 for Yurodny (Dublin) and Hezarfen (Istanbul) ensembles; Symphony in Blue (2012) for solo piano for Istanbul Museum of Modern Art; Thyestes (2011) for the Crossing Choir in Philadelphia; Still, Flow, Surge (2011) for choir and orchestra for Present Music's 30th anniversary; Far Variations (2009) for Los Angeles Piano Quartet; Concerto for Orchestra, Turkish Instruments and Voices (2009) for the Turkish Ministry of Culture; Dreamlines (2008) to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Turkish Chamber of Architects; Music for a Lost Earth (ambient music project) (2007); Gloria (Everywhere) (2007) for the Chanticleer Mass project; Turquoise (2005), a project of his various works arranged by him for the Netherlands Blazers Ensemble; 5th Symphony Galatasaray (2005) in honor of the infamous soccer club's (winner of the European and the World Super Cup) centennial celebrations; and Requiem Without Words (2004), for the Istanbul International Music Festival in memory of the victims of the November 2003 terrorist bombings in Istanbul.
Four Naxos CD's of Ince's music have recently been released. They are Music for a Lost Earth (9.70141 digital), Galatasaray (8.572553 CD/digital), Hammers & Whistlers (9.70011 digital) and Constantinople (8.572554 CD/digital). Along with Kamran Ince (8.557588 CD/digital) this brings his total releases with Naxos to five CD's. His other CD's include In White on Innova, Fall of Constantinople on Decca and Kamran Ince & Friends on Albany.
Ince's Judgment of Midas, an opera in two acts, commissioned by Crawford Greenewalt to mark the 50th anniversary of Sardis/Lydia excavations, had its concert version premiere in April 2013 in Milwaukee with Present Music and Milwaukee Opera Theatre with Ince conducting.
OPERA America/Opera.ca Grants Awarded
Click here to learn more about OPERA America granting programs.
| GRANT NAME | YEAR | New Works Forum Showcase | 2014 | New Works Sampler | 2014 | The Opera Fund: Repertoire Development | 2013 |
There are no productions for this artist in the Season Schedule of Performances which currently only dates back to 1991.
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Artist Information
All information is derived from OPERA America's Season Schedule of Performances and titles databases which date back to 1991. OPERA America is constantly updating this data. If you feel that a work or an artist has been omitted or that information is incorrect, please use the linked forms below. Title Information Form Artist Information Form
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