Studies after Archipenko, Ecce Ensemble
O sendin, Ensemble Modern
Attics, Juliet Fraser and Maxime Desert
ODA (fixed media)
O yer, Ensemble Composit
Hear_with me_There, Ensemble Suono Giallo
Revival, Ensemble Schallfeld
Warped Clocks, Stephen Krishnan
O kim, Meitar Ensemble
courtesy of Dario Griffin
Guitarist-composer Hakki Cengiz Eren’s music has been performed across the United States, Europe, Brazil and Turkey. Some of the renowned ensembles he has worked with include Ensemble Schallfeld, Ensemble Móbile, Ensemble Suono Giallo, Ensemble Composit, Schwerpunkt Ensemble, Ecce, Argus Quartet, Meitar Ensemble, Hezarfen Ensemble and Ensemble Modern.
In 2017, he has been commissioned by the Royaumont foundation to write a new work for the Meitar Ensemble, which also gained him a residency at the Camargo foundation in 2018. Among several international awards he has been recognized with are the Hans J. Salter Music Memorial Award, 1st prize in MIGF composition competition, ERT Prize in Città di Udine Composition Competition 2020, Peter David Faith Memorial Award, BNMI Call for Scores, CEMI Circles Call for Scores, Kirkoskammer Composition Competition (special commendation), Donald Aird Earplay Competition (finalist), Mdi Ensemble Call for Scores (Finalist) and the American Prize for Composition (finalist).
His music is influenced by mysticism, psychoacoustics, microtonality, electroacoustic music and Turkish folk music, to name just a few. An approach that prevails often is the merging of seemingly unrelated narratives, an attempt to bring together disparate entities under a reflective discourse. Usually one encounters a forlorn entity, barely able to justify its own reason to exist, stripped off its identity, attempting to come into being.
Cengiz has participated in various international festivals, workshops and masterclasses, including the Royaumont Voix Nouvelles, Ticino Academy, CEME, Sound of Wander, Darmstadt Summer Course, Festival Mixtur, Impuls Academy, IlSuono Academy, Composit Festival, Musiikin aika, Etchings Festival, Soundscape Festival and the Los Angeles Micro-Fest. In such environments he has studied so far with internationally renowned names like Clara Iannotta, Philippe Leroux, Alex Mincek, Pierluigi Billone, Dimitri Kourlandski, Stefan Prins, Simon Steen-Andersen, Mauricio Sotelo, Klaus Lang, Francesco Filidei, Beat Furrer, Franck Bedrossian, Mark Andre, Onur Türkmen, Joël Bons, Brian Hulse and Michael Quell.
He has completed his Bachelor’s degree in guitar performance at the Peabody Institute. This was followed by a Master’s degree in composition at University of Michigan. He has recently obtained a DMA in composition from the USC Thornton School of Music, where his main teachers have been Stephen Hartke, Donald Crockett and Sean Friar.
Recently, teaching has been an important part of his current activities, and he is now a lecturer at Near East University, Department of Music.
