October 30, 2024 / 6:30pm / MÜZİKSEV

Zöllner-Roche Duo

Next Generation Series-V

Program

İmge Tiryaki, Knot (2024) for clarinet & accordion   5´**

Kaan Selçuk, atonement (2024) for clarinet & accordion   5´**

Efe Yüksel, İzmir, 2024 (2024) for clarinet & accordion    5´**

Alphan Tokmakoğlu, VUKUAT (2024) for clarinet & accordion    4´**

Ege Gür, Purple Stains(2024) for clarinet & accordion    6´**

*Türkiye premiere.   ** World Premiere

Program Notes

İmge Tiryaki, Knot (2024)  

Composed for the İzmir New Music Days-V, Knot, tells the story of two instruments that begin separately but gradually come closer, forming a knot, and then attempt to untangle it. Throughout the piece, one can observe the knot loosening and tightening at different moments. My goal was to show the listener the process of these two instruments forming a knot and their attempt to untagle it. This might be a familiar process, as the life we live is often tied to the creation and resolution of knots.

Kaan Selçuk, atonement (2024)           

The fallen man tries to climb back to his home. Or would he rather never have been born?

Composed for İzmir New Music Days-V.

Efe Yüksel, İzmir, 2024 (2024)  

I left İzmir, the city that I grew up in, in 2018 to move to London for my education and have been based there ever since then. When I started working on this piece, I was just starting to go through a shift in my compositional style with a desire to simplify. As I had to stop halfway through the writing process to work on other projects before coming back to finish it, I found a sketch that was now quite alien to me and it became the last piece in my “old” style. Because of these factors, “İzmir, 2024 is both a reflection on my musical interests of the past 6 years and on the memories of my hometown. It will also be the first piece of mine to be performed in İzmir. Dedicated to my parents, Diydem and Hasan Yüksel, who have always supported me.

Alphan Tokmakoğlu, VUKUAT (2024)  

The Only Thing That Shrinks as You Approach Is the Human…

The piece “VUKUAT” composed for ‘İzmir New Music Days -V’, refers to occurrences outside the norm in Turkish. Musical gestures in the composition contributes to the story. The accordion portrays the moral dilemma, while the clarinet symbolizes human intentions. The music conjures vivid images, guiding listeners to their primal self through empathy in a cathartic experience. The music becomes an intellectual feast, drawing in the audience and inviting them to explore its depth. The journey starts with the ‘other’ and ends with a faint shadow transforming into ‘character’.

For those with open-perception doors;
Gliding slowly with those ornate wings from behind the veil of occurrence, it couldn’t perceive the weight of matter in the darkness. Time, caught up in your rhythm, enemy of the angelic, weapon of evil. You are truly the poor man, the tactful vagrant.

Ege Gür, Purple Stains (2024)   

Sounds, traces sought in the vertical lines of life…

Remnants of vertical and horizontal marks, discoveries!

Beyond image and expression, an overflowing reality…

From painter Nuri Kuzucan’s findings, free of the demands of color and form, seep purple stains…Traces of a silence reached, Nooks of life!

Composed for the Zöllner/Roche Duo,
to be performed at İzmir New Music Days-V.

The piece is dedicated by the composer to Nuri Kuzucan.

Zöllner-Roche-Duo

Eva Zöllner – Accordeon, Heather Roche – Clarinet in Bb

Clarinettist Heather Roche and accordionist Eva Zöllner are two of contemporary music’s most versatile and adaptable voices. Known for their independent travels in experimental performance and extended techniques, the duo come together in projects of constantly changing aesthetics and approaches. Adventurous music-making, creative risk-taking and innovation characterize their work. In cooperation with composers from different parts of the world they create a new and exciting repertoire and bring it on stage.

https://www.zoellner-roche.com/

Heather Roche

Born in Canada, clarinetist Heather Roche lives in London. Referred to as ‘The Queen of Extended Techniques’ on BBC Radio 3, she appears regularly as a soloist and chamber musician. She currently plays with the experimental chamber music ensemble, Apartment House, who are Ensemble in Residence at the Wigmore Hall as well as ‘House Band’ for the Sheffield-based another timbre label, for whom they have recorded 40+ CDs. She also has had a duo with accordionist Eva Zöllner since 2016, with whom she has toured Mexico, Sweden, Colombia, Brazil and Turkey. They have also performed together at festivals including Gaudeamus (Utrecht), Flow (Helsinki), HCMF (UK), Mixtur (Barcelona), etc. and commissioned dozens of works for their unique duo. She has performed as a soloist with the BBCSSO in the premiere of a new Clarinet Concerto by Scott McLaughlin and performed as a guest with various ensembles and orchestras including the London Sinfonietta, the LSO, Musikfabrik, the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Red Note, Riot Ensemble, manufaktur für aktuelle musik, Mimitabu, etc. She holds a PhD from the University of Huddersfield, with her thesis on “Dialogue and Collaboration in the Creation of New Works for Clarinet”. Her blog on writing for the clarinet attracts 70,000 viewers each year. She is also Reviews Editor of TEMPO, published by Cambridge University Press, and teaches clarinet at Goldsmiths University. Her debut solo CD, Ptelea, is out on HCR/NMC, and her CD featuring the clarinet works of Christopher Fox, Headlong, appears on Métier. Her recording of Martin Iddon’s clarinet works, Sapindales, appears on the another timbre label. She also appears regularly with rock bands including Dog Unit and Modern Nature, and records for film, including on the Emmy-winning score for The Reason I Jump, by composer Nainita Desai. She has been Head of Clarinet at tonebase since spring 2024. She lives in south-east London with her partner and their cat, Vera.

www.heatherroche.net

 

Eva Zöllner

Eva Zöllner studied accordion at the Music Academy in Cologne and the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen with Prof. Geir Draugsvoll. She is one of the most active accordionists of her generation and is a passionate advocate of contemporary music. As an internationally sought-after artist, she presents projects ranging from experimental solo performances to collaborations with renowned orchestras. She has initiated several chamber music formations, of which her 10 year long collaboration with clarinetist Heather Roche  ist the most fruitful.  Concert tours have taken her to all continents; she is particularly interested in the countries of Central and South America with their lively contemporary music scene. Collaboration with composers around the world is an essential aspect of her work. As a result, she has premiered more than 300 works. In 2021 her book „Composing for the Accordion“ was published. In 2023 she successfully released her solo album „voces, señales“ with Genuin classics. Eva Zöllner is also active as a curator and cultural manager. She lives in Westerwald, Germany, and often travels to explore her instrument in various contexts and cultures.  

www.eva-zoellner.de

Composers:

İmge Yağmur Tiryaki

İmge Yağmur Tiryaki, was born in 2000, in Gerze, Sinop, Turkey. She began playing the flute at the age of 10 and graduated from Sinop Fine Arts High School. After her initial compositon studies with Berkay Şirin, she was admitted to the Composition Department of the Ankara University State Conservatory in 2019, where she studed under Mert Karabey. During her education, she participated in workshops with Mario Eritreo, Gregor Huebner, and Roberto Neumann-Domingos. In 2021, she won third place in the Kadıköy Municipality Süreyya Opera House Composition Competition, followed by second place in 2022 and third place again in 2023. She was also a finalist in the 2023 BESOM “Piano Pieces for Children” competition. Additionally, she took part in the “Composer’s Cauldron” organized by “Klasik Keyifler,” where she had the opportunity to work with Garth Knox, Erberk Eryılmaz, and Clint Bajakian. She completed the 2023-2024 Winter Semester at Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe as part of the Erasmus program. After earning her bachelor’s degree from the Ankara University State Conservatory in June 2024, she was accepted to the master’s program at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, where she continues her composition studies with Markus Hechtle.

Kaan Selçuk

Kaan Selçuk (b. 2000) is a composer based in İzmir-Turkey. He studied composition at Yaşar University under Füsun Köksal and Mehmet Can Özerin. His music has been performed by ensembles such as hand werk, Shallfeld Ensemble, KNM Ensemble, Hezarfen Ensemble, ums ‘n jip,  Fie Schouten, and  Katharina Gross in Sesin Yolculuğu Young Composers Festival, İzmir New Music Days, and Gaudeamus Music Festival. He has participated in masterclasses with esteemed composers including Stefano Gervasoni, Christoph Maria Wagner, and Sungji Hong. Selçuk’s works aim to reinterpret the rhetoric of philosophical and literary texts through sound, utilizing microtonality and innovative forms to capture and express their intricate nuances. Deeply influenced by postmodern philosophy, he frequently employs musical quotations to achieve deconstruction. Furthermore, he integrates the phonetics of the linguistic materials through sounds and manipulates their syntax according to the fomal structure. Kaan Selçuk is currently pursuing his master’s degree with Füsun Köksal.

Efe Yüksel

Efe Yüksel (1999) is a composer, performer and electronic musician from İzmir/Turkey, currently based in London. His music has been played by ensembles such as the Ligeti and Bozzini Quartets, EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble, musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra, conductors Jack Sheen and James MacMillan, pianist Huw Watkins and violinists Mira Benjamin in venues across the UK, Turkey, France and the United States. In recent years, his practice has involved exploring inharmonicity and the physical capabilities of instruments and voices as well as combining them with live electronic processing. Aside from composing, he is also active as an electronics, piano, melodica and vocal performer.  Since 2022, he has organised a multitude of events involving melodicas and commissioned and premiered new works by himself and a wide range of composers including Amber Priestley, Etienne Rolin and fellow students from London conservatoires. He completed undergrad and postgrad studies with Malcolm Singer, Julian Anderson (composition), Nye Parry (electronic music) and Rolf Hind (piano) in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he will be starting doctoral studies next academic year. He is supported by the Guildhall School Trust, Talent Unlimited and Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation. He was the recipient of the Ian Horsbrugh Memorial Prize for Composition in 2022.

Alphan Tokmakoğlu

The artist, who works on film, theater, and video game music, began his acting training at an early age and completed his professional education at the New York Art Academy with courses given by Onur Atacan. He continues to work as a music designer in various theaters, especially Theater Ansambl, and is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in composition at Yaşar University, Faculty of Art and Design, with courses from Mehmet Can Özer and Füsun Köksal.

Rather than seeing himself as a composer, he prefers the term storyteller. He believes music should help people empathize with themselves. Music should not only depict a specific situation or scene but also possess a structure that stands on its own. Music, at its core, is sound; with the right design, any sound can create harmony. The relationship between sounds should be sincere and genuine. In his view, there is no such thing as a perfect musician or composer; there are only individuals with awareness.

Ege Gür

He was born in Istanbul in 1998. After establishing a deep relationship with music during his childhood, he went to Ankara to receive double bass and piano education. Beginning his composition studies there, the composer wrote his first piano album and entered Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory in 2016. Continuing his composition studies there, he worked with prominent composers such as Sıdıka Özdil and Turgay Erdener. He participated in masterclasses by significant composers such as Paul Patterson and Stefano Gervasoni. Having graduated as a High Honor Student in 2021, the composer returned to Istanbul the same year to pursue postgraduate studies at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Istanbul State Conservatory. Continuing his studies in Istanbul, Ege Gür, under the guidance of the esteemed composer Özkan Manav, also teaches harmony and music forms courses at the same institution. Besides his music studies, the composer produces works in various fields of art such as cinema and literature.