7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014
Corley Auditorium in Webster Hall
Admission: free
A delightful performance featuring the traditional and classical music of Turkey by the band Istanbul Breeze. Founded by Ozan Cemali in 2011 with Dena El Saffar and Tim Moore in order to share the culture and music of his native Turkey, Istanbul Breeze has performed at Turkish Embassy events, numerous universities, and at local community venues. Tomás Lozanobegan his participation with Istanbul Breeze this year, adding a Mediterranean influence to the music.
Istanbul Breeze also will perform some Turkish folk music with rock rhythms. Some of the songs are popular today with younger generations and have been included in recent movie soundtracks such as the song “Misirlou” from the movie Pulp Fiction.
Ozan Cemali was born in 1970 in Ankara, Turkey. He has been playing the baglama (a Turkish folk instrument) since the age of 10. Nurtured by the love of music that comes from the roots of his family, Cemali has been singing, performing and improvising in varied culture settings from traditional coffee houses (a significant component of becoming a troubadour in Turkey) to contemporary musical venues. At the age of 17 he widened his musical repertoire to include the oud. In addition to his skills in interpreting the corpus of traditional songs, he also has a growing songbook of his own compositions.
Dena El Saffaris a composer and multi-instrumentalist of Iraqi and American heritage. She began learning the violin at the age of 6. While working on her degree in viola performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, she founded the group Salaam, a Middle Eastern music ensemble that has performed throughout the United States.
Tim Moore grew up in the Midwest and began playing drums at the age of 11. A natural percussionist, he began performing with different groups early on, gaining experience in a variety of genres including jazz, blues, salsa and rock. In his quest to become a better, more diverse musician, he began learning rhythms and instruments from around the world, eventually bringing his focus to Middle Eastern percussion. Moore plays the dumbek, riqq, naqqarat, bendir, tabl and zanbur, as well as drum set, bass and guitar.
Tomás Lozano is a vocalist, instrumentalist, composer, scholar and writer born in Barcelona, Spain. He stands out as an iconic performer of Spain’s traditional ballads sung in Castilian, Catalan and Galician. Lozano also takes poetry from famed Spanish authors and converts them into song, which he performs with the accompaniment of his guitar and other instruments. His wide-ranging musical repertoire includes his own melodies for the hurdy gurdy and folk dances from Spain, France, Britain and more. He also sings traditional Sephardic songs in Ladino.
10:00 a.m. Friday, Sept. 19, 2014
Corley Auditorium in Webster Hall
Admission: free
Members of the band Istanbul Breeze will discuss the history and traditions of the instruments used in their performances and offer demonstrations. Ozan Cemali also will discuss Turkish folk music and the traditions of music among “troubadours” in Turkey.
12:00 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, 2014
Corley Auditorium in Webster Hall
Admission: free
A farewell performance featuring the traditional and classical music of Turkey by the band Istanbul Breeze.
7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7, 2014
Taylor Performing Arts Center
Admission: free
The Southern Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Jeffrey Macomber, dedicates half of its Fall concert to Turkish-inspired music. Beethoven’s Turkish March from “The Ruins of Athens” and Mozart’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in G major, K. 219 “Turkish” will be performed by the orchestra and guest soloist Erik Peterson.
Peterson has been a member of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra since 1991 and is concertmaster of the chamber orchestra Up Close and Personal. As an active performing chamber musician, he is often heard in performances with the Ivy Street Ensemble and Mendelssohn Trio. In addition to his work as a violinist, Peterson is artistic director of the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival in Corvallis, Oregon, and the Front Range Chamber Players, based in Fort Collins, Colorado. He has taught violin, chamber music, and orchestral repertoire at Colorado State University, Rocky Bridge Music Center, Denver School of the Arts, and Denver Young Artists Orchestra.
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014
Corley Auditorium in Webster Hall
Admission: free
As part of its “Swingin’ Holiday Show,” the Southern Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Dr.Phillip C. Wise, performs the world premiere of a new musical work composed by Scott D. Stanton and commissioned for the ensemble by the MSSU Institute of International Studies.
Torquoise Blue is an original composition based on the challenging rhythmic and melodic themes of Turkish folk music. The work includes various rhythmic meter of 7/8 (3+2+2), 8/8 (3+3+2), 11/8 (3+2+2+2+2), 7/8 (3+2+2) and 8/8 (half note) meter. The meters are subdivided into rhythmic patterns which are quite different from the more simplistic patterns of Western Art or American Jazz rhythms. These Turkish patterns segue to a standard 16 measure 4/4 jazz blues form which complement the work.
Scott Stanton is a professional educator, musician, and administrator with experience in public and private music instruction at all levels including the community college and university settings. He has taught music theory, music history, music technology, and directed bands, orchestras, choirs and synthesizer ensembles.
His transcriptions of Mannheim Steamroller’s music for synthesizer ensemble are published by Dots and Lines Ink, Omaha, Nebraska. His original jazz and concert band compositions are published by C. L. Barnhouse Co., Oskaloosa, Iowa.
In addition to writing and performing with his jazz trio, “Jazz Between Friends,” he is active as an adjudicator, clinician, and guest artist. Stanton is the founder of Pro Musica, a community music school in Price, Utah. He holds a bachelor of arts in music from Monmouth (Illinois) College and a master’s of music education from VanderCook College of Music, Chicago. He is a member of many professional organizations, including ASCAP, American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Educators, Iowa Bandmasters Association, and the Jazz Educators of Iowa.
