EMRE SIHAN KALELI

“My tales, like those of the Thousand and One Nights, are intended not to persuade readers, but to entertain and touch them.”

Jorge Luis Borges, Foreword to the Brodie’s Report

I am a Turkish composer currently based in Vienna. I have studied and acquired professional experience in four countries: Turkey, Uzbekistan, the Netherlands, and Austria. Close artistic collaborations with certain soloists and collectives, namely Matthias Arter (oboe, Switzerland), Aleksandra Bajde (composition & voice, Slovenia), the Omnibus Ensemble (Uzbekistan), the pre-art soloists (Switzerland), the Nieuw Ensemble (the Netherlands), and the Ensemble Modelo62 (the Netherlands), played a significant role in my artistic development. I should mention the studies with Richard Ayres, extra-curricular mentorship of Joël Bons, as well as master-classes with Dmitri Kourliandski as other important influences on me. 

 Most of my compositions strongly differ from one another, displaying a plurality of aesthetic directions and accompanying technical tools. Nonetheless, it can be observed that my music strongly tends to be expressive – it is impulsive with frequent and abrupt changes, and rich in the sense of diversity of musical scenes and situations that it presents. What my music offers to the audience is thus a multitude of musical possibilities instead of following the development of a single thought. In that regard, my approach to music composition is rather intuitive than rational: I consider the rational experience as only one of many ways to experience the world, whereas my strongest experience of an artwork is when it resonates with me in a way that cannot be put into words. This is to say: Magic happens only when we do not understand how a trick is performed.

My works have been awarded with a number of prizes and honors. Here is a selection of them:

• 2019 – ISCM World New Music Days 2020 in New Zealand – One of the two selected composers from Austria
• 2019 – impuls Composition Competition, Austria, Winner
• 2019 – Call for Applications, Makrokosmos Quartet, Winner
• 2019 – International Call for Scores, mdi Ensemble, Italy, Winner
• 2019 – Call for Scores, Nief-Norf Summer Festival, USA, Winner
• 2019 – Call for Scores, 28th International Review of Composers organised by the Composers’ Association of Serbia, Winner
• 2018 – ‘Satellite 2018–19’ project of the Ensemble Phoenix Basel, Switzerland, One of the selected composers
• 2018 – ‘Startstipendium’ for Music and Performing Arts of the Austrian Federal Chancellery, Austria
• 2017 – Call for Scores, Ensemble Reconsil Vienna, Austria, Winner
• 2015 – Gargonza Arts Award (nominated by Heinz Holliger), Germany, A three months artist residency award in Italy
• 2015 – MIAM Composition Award, Turkey
• 2015 – Funding for a two-years artistic project with the Ensemble Modelo62 from the Dutch Performing Arts Funds, the Netherlands
• 2013 – Gaudeamus Award, the Netherlands, Honorable Mention
• 2009 – 5^th Pre-Art Competition for Young Composers, Switzerland, 1^st Prize

I also work as the Assistant Artistic Director at the ensemble XX. jahrhundert and as the Secretary at the ISCM Austian Section. My works are published by the Donemus (NL).

Here you can find my portrait interview on the Music Austria (MICA) website (in German).

• Currently in progress: New work for the Klangforum Wien commissioned by impuls
• Next projects (2020): new work for the ensemble XX. jahrhundert; new work for Makrokosmos Quartet; new work for the airborne extended
• Projects in 2021: new work for Aleksander Gabrys (solo double bass); new work for the Trio Tempestoso; new work for Antonio Politano (recorders)