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 Co-Director of MIAM (Center for Advanced Research in Music) at the Istanbul Technical University. His numerous prizes include the Prix de Rome, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Lili Boulanger Prize. 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 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; Hammers and Whistlers (2006), a work for women’s choir, children’s choir, and orchestra for Present Music’s 25th anniversary; last night, in istanbul.. (2006) for Opus 21; 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 new Naxos CD’s of Ince’s music have just been released. They are Music for a Lost Earth (9.70141, digital), Galatasaray (8.572553, digital/CD), Hammers & Whistlers (9.70011, digital) and Constantinople (8.572554, digital/CD). Along with Kamran Ince 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 continues to work on Judgment of Midas, an opera under development at American Opera Projects, commissioned by Crawford Greenewalt, Jr. III, to mark the 50th anniversary of Sardis/Lydia excavations (sponsored by Harvard and Cornell Universities). It will be co-produced starting in 2012, initially with Milwaukee Florentine Opera/Present Music, Berkeley West Edge Opera and American Opera Projects in New York. Ince is one of the composers participating in the creation of the Gallipoli Symphony, with his movement The Invasion, commissioned by the Australian Government, to mark the centennial in 2015 of the 1st World War battle of Gallipoli. Other upcoming projects include a large work for Present Music’s 30th Anniversary for orchestra, choirs and soloists, a setting of Seneca’s Thyestes for The Crossing Choir in Philadelphia and a new chamber work for St. Paul’s School in London.