Burak Özdemir

Burak Özdemir (* October 5, 1983 in Istanbul) is a German composer, bassoonist, choreographer and director.

Introduction

Burak Özdemir is the son of composer and pianist Cengiz Özdemir. His mother was a ballet dancer. In 2008 he founded the Ensemble Musica Sequenza at the Juilliard School in New York and since then has been artistic director of the ensemble, which stands for innovation in early music and intercultural productions. He develops his own methods in Berlin to create new performance modalities. Burak Özdemir's compositions consist largely of rediscovering unknown or forgotten works from the Renaissance to classical music. His productions range from new music stage concepts, electroacoustic performances, dance and experimental theatre, opera performances, portrait and conversation concerts, workshops, mentoring programs to various CD productions.

Burak Özdemir received various awards. The Istanbul International Jazz Festival selected him in 2005 with his work "Vintage Keys". Within the same year he received the Young Talents award of the Türkiye İş Bankası. And he won in 2010 the first prize of the Juilliard Concerto Competition.

Background

Education

Burak Özdemir began his first piano and bassoon lessons in 1995 at the Istanbul Conservatory. From 2001 to 2005 he completed his Bachelor of Music at the University of Istanbul. He moved in 2005 to Berlin and studied at the University of the Arts with a focus on bassoon. He completed his diploma thesis in 2008 and then attended New York to the Juilliard School, where he was in 2010 the first bassoonist to receive his Artist Diploma in Performance.

Musica Sequenza

Burak Özdemir founded in 2008 the ensemble Musica Sequenza as part of his studies at the Juilliard School. The ensemble is dedicated to innovation in baroque music and aims to develop an intercultural artistic movement together with musicians, singers, dancers, choreographers, visual artists, architects, designers and filmmakers.

The ensemble plays on historical and modern instruments in order to engage early and electronic music in a dialogue. The ensemble presents performances ranging from Renaissance to contemporary composers at opera houses, festivals, concert halls, municipal theatres, art foundations and museums. The ensemble also participates in the contemporary art scene - with interdisciplinary productions mixing baroque, new music, electroacoustic sounds, modern dance, performance and experimental music theatre.

Career

Burak Özdemir's productions have been performed in Europe, North & South America and Asia in houses such as the Elbphilharmonie, Berliner Philharmonie, Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Berghain Club, Concertgebouw, Vienna State Opera and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

He played as a guest with the Istanbul Philharmonic, the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra and L'Arte Del Mondo and collaborated with Sasha Waltz, Matthew Herbert, Werner Ehrhardt, Rolando Villazon, Nicolas McGegan and DJ Ipek.

Burak Özdemir is interested in linking various artistic areas as the dialogue between choreography and music. He composed the music of the piece "Dialoge" that performed at the Festival d'Avignon together with Sasha Waltz & Guests in 2013. The ensuing performance took place at the Opera d'Avignon. In 2016 Burak Özdemir composed and played for Sasha Waltz's production "Zuhören" at Radialsystem V in Berlin. The following year, he appeared with Sasha Waltz at the opening of Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie with the choreographic installation "Figure Humaine".

Burak Özdemir also collaborated in 2013 with Matthew Herbert on "One Day" for the Elbjazz festival. The performance took place in the Thalia Theater Hamburg.

Burak

In 2019 Burak Özdemir released his first album under the stage name Burak on the label Edel / Neue Meister. The avant-garde album "Hermes" combines electronica with 18th century instruments.

The virtual reality music video "Lyre" - from the album "Hermes" - was nominated in the category Best Experimental Film at the Berlin Music Video Awards.

Burak has been DJing in clubs such as Sisyphos, KitKat, Kammgarn, Wagenhallen, Berghain, Radialsystem V and Bomontiada Istanbul.

Electro-Baroque

Burak Özdemir specializes in the revival and exploration of historical operas and plays: he places the works in a new context using the modalities of contemporary performances. He established with his projects the new genre of electro baroque: "Fuga - The Electro-Baroque Opera" was his first opera production, which premiered in 2010 in the Baruch Black Box Theater. In the following projects "Opera del Futuro" (2015) and "Sampling Baroque" (2019), Burak Özdemir mixes baroque or classical traditions with electronic and audiovisual elements.

Selected works

Sampling Baroque

In 2015, the Handel Festival Halle commissioned "Sampling Baroque / Handel". One year later, the second episode "Sampling Baroque / Bach" was premiered - on behalf of the Schaffhausen International Bach Festival - at the Kulturzentrum Kammgarn. This was followed by performances at the Istanbul Music Festival, the Stuttgart Bach Academy, Berghain, Radial System V Berlin and the Oranjewoud Festival.

Atlas Passion

His project "Atlas Passion" was co-produced with the Stadttheater Schaffhausen and premiered in this theatre in October 2018. "Atlas Passion" is an inter-religious oratorio based on the Passion music by Johann Sebastian Bach. Burak Özdemir composed this music theatre piece in four languages: Hebrew, Arabic, German and Latin. The passions are placed in a contemporary context and include topics such as war, flee, new nationalism and the Middle East conflicts, supported by religious questions from the three world religions Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Transmute

"Transmute" is an improvised production series, the first episode of which was commissioned by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The premiere took place in 2014 at Umspannwerk in Berlin, as part of the discussion about the shutdown of power stations in Germany.

In this digital project, electroacoustic composition emerges from two different sides, with accentuated rhythm and constant, recurring elements. For "Transmute" Burak Özdemir explores the sounds of specific public spaces and deals with architectural soundscapes.

Sohbet I Korero

"Sohbet I Korero", an installation by Burak Özdemir in the Pera Museum, is part of the museum series New Sounds. The aim of this project was to rediscover the museum collections through the different artistic expressions of several composers and artists. "Sohbet I Korero" was inspired by the exhibition Orientalist Painting, which took place in November 2018. Burak Özdemir's project "Sohbet I Korero" is an experimental improvisation dialogue between art and music. The visual element is transformed into auditory perception.

Discography

Burak Özdemir's albums were released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Sony Music and Neue Meister / Edel.

• 2012 Antonio Vivaldi – The New Four Seasons
• 2013 Johann Sebastian Bach – The Silent Cantata
• 2014 Jean-Philippe Rameau – Rameau à la Turque
• 2016 Georg Friedrich Händel – Sampling Baroque Händel
• 2019 Burak – Hermes

Works

Burak Özdemir's premieres by year and place:

• 07/2005 Vintage Keys, Istanbul Jazz Festival
• 04/2010 Fuga: The Electro-Baroque Opera, Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York City
• 11/2012 Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons, Radial System V Berlin
• 06/2013 Sound Specific: Music of Seicente, Zionskirche Berlin
• 07/2013 Dialoge mit Sasha Waltz, Festival D’Avignon
• 11/2013 Bach: The Silent Cantata, Berghain Berlin
• 12/2013 Opera del Futuro: La Serva Padrona, Radial System V Berlin
• 12/2013 Sound Specific: Il Prete Rosso, The Startup Gallery Berlin
• 01/2014 Transmute – Episode 1: Zero Gravity, Umspannwerk Berlin
• 02/2014 Sampling Baroque – Exposing Händel, Nikolaisaal Potsdam
• 04/2014 Transmute – Episode 2: Honey where are my keys?, Radial System V Berlin
• 10/2014 Rameau à la Turque, Berghain Berlin
• 02/2015 Opera del Futuro: Skin Deep Plug-Ins, KitKat Club Berlin
• 03/2015 Diego Velazquez, Grand Palais Paris
• 06/2015 Sampling Baroque – Handel, Händel Festspiele Halle
• 02/2016 Transmute – Episode 3: Paper, Covers Rock, Radialsystem V
• 05/2016 Sampling Baroque – Bach, Bachfest Schaffhausen/ Kammgarn
• 12/2016 Transmute – Episode 4: Unreif, Berghain Berlin
• 11/2018 Sohbet I Korero, Pera Museum Istanbul
• 04/2019 Hermes, Silent Green Kulturquartier

Film Music

In 2012 Burak Özdemir composed the music of the show "Götter wie wir" and the following year of the movie "Lifelong - Hayatboyu".

In 2015 Burak Özdemir was commissioned by the Grand Palais in Paris - together with Spanish Baroque composers - to compose music for the international exhibition dedicated to the Spanish baroque painter Diego Velázquez. Arte Edition later released the work, curated and filmed by Karim Aïnouz on DVD..

Awards & Nominations

• 2004: Award for the work "Vintage Keys" at Istanbul Jazz Festival Selection
• 2005: 1st prize Is Sanat Young Talents from Türkiye İş Bankası
• 2007: Fellow of the Year, Borusan Foundation
• 2010: 1st Prize of the Juilliard Concerto Competition
• 2014: Nomination for Donizetti Award Turkey as Best Chamber Music of the year
• 2019: Nomination for the video "Lyre" Berlin Music Video Awards in the category Best Experimental Film

Weblinks

• Website
• Burak Özdemir discography at Discogs
• Bach-Cantatas.com
• Resident Advisor
• Neue Meister
• Film Freeway
• Silent Green
• Theater Mania
• Pera Museum
• Beatport
• Sony Music
• Audiendi
• Edm
• Theatermania
• Handel Haus
• The Juilliard School

References

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