Emre Sihan Kaleli

Composer

About

“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 Brodie’s Report

I am an Austrian composer of Turkish origin, who is based in Vienna. I have studied and acquired professional experience in four countries: Turkey, Uzbekistan, the Netherlands, and Austria. I aim to make exciting, impulsive music and my works range from acoustic chamber works to music theater. My works are performed by Klangforum Wien, Ensemble PHACE, Riot Ensemble, Black Page Orchestra, Nieuw Ensemble, Schallfeld Ensemble, mdi Ensemble, and Bilkent Symphony Orchestra among others. I have been awarded with a number of prizes and honors. Here is a selection of them:

2024 – Composition scholarship of the City of Vienna for 2025
2022 – ‘Förderungspreis’ of the City of Vienna in the Field of Music
2022 – 2nd Prize at the Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award Competition 2022
2021 – Austrian State Scholarship for Composition
2019 – ISCM World New Music Days 2020 in New Zealand – One of the two selected composers from Austria
2019 – impuls Composition Competition, Austria, Winner
2015 – Gargonza Arts Award (nominated by Heinz Holliger), Germany, A three months artist residency award in Italy
2015 – MIAM Composition Award, Turkey
2013 – Gaudeamus Award, the Netherlands, Honorable Mention
2009 – 5^thPre-Art Competition for Young Composers, Switzerland, 1^stPrize

Dates

UPCOMING

Autumn 2025: Two premieres by Strings&Noise and Cantando Admont
May 2025: A Labyrinth, A Ritual; between feathers, Vienna
March 2025: HERKUNFT, ensemble XXI. jahrhundert, Wiener Konzerthaus; Dark Light, Kollektiv Unruhe, Germany

PAST

November 2024: Studio recording of ‘A Labyrinth, A Ritual’ with Elina Viluma-Helling and between feathers
19.10.2024: Imaginary Devices II for accordion and electronics, Maria Mogas Gensana (Vertixe Sonora), Festival Rafel Bunyol
15.9.2024: Imaginary Devices II for accordion and electronics, Maria Mogas Gensana, Transart Festival Bolzano
23.5.2024: speak to me (for clarinet bell and mini megaphone), Szilárd Benes, Beynəlxalq Muğam Mərkəzi, Baku
17.4.2024: speak to me (for clarinet bell and mini megaphone), Szilárd Benes, KULTUM, Graz
6.4.2024: I am a Diptych, Ensemble S201, Szene 10, Essen
11.3.2024: A Dark Light / A Black Sun, De Paz / PHACE, ORF radio broadcast
4.3.2024: I am a Diptych, Schallfeld Ensemble, Preßl-Saal (KUG), Graz
16.2.2024: A Labyrinth, A Ritual for flute, accordion, voice, percussion and electronics (premiere), between feathers, Brick-15, Vienna
16.2.2024: I am a Diptych, Schallfeld Ensemble, Festival “Teatri del Suono”, Trieste
9.1.2024: A Dark Light / A Black Sun for ensemble and electronics (premiere), Ensemble PHACE, Wiener Konzerthaus | Berio-Saal, Vienna

Upcoming & Past Projects

Projects 2025: New work for Strings&Noise; New work for Cantando Admont; New music theater work in collaboration with Teresa Doblinger (staging), Philipp Lossau, and Ensemble Studio Dan
Projects 2024: New solo pieces for Szilárd Benes (clarinet), Maria Mogas Gensana (accordion); Alfredo Ovalles (piano) New ensemble piece for ensemble XXI. jahrhundert
Projects 2023: New work for Ensemble PHACE; New work for between feathers
Projects 2022: Hybrid Technologies for ensemble and electronics, commissioned by Riot Ensemble and premiered in September 2022 at the Gaudeamus Music Week; Subterranean – an interdisciplinary performance work created in collaboration with Teresa Doblinger (Choreography), Sara-Lisa Bals (Scenography) and The Black Page Orchestra, and premiered in June 2022 in REAKTOR

*Many thanks to City of Vienna, Federal Ministry Republic of Austria for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport and SKE-Fonds for the financial support of my works in form of grants and scholarships

Listen

Watch

List of Works (Selection)

1 – 3 Performers

Imaginary Devices II | accordion and electronics (fixed media) | 2024, 9′
speak to me | clarinet bell and mini megaphone | 2024, 6′
Proximity | solo percussion | 2021, 4’
I am a Diptych | cl, acc, vlc | 2021, 12’

4 – 7 Performers

A Labyrinth, A Ritual | fl, perc, voice, acc, electronics | 2024, 9’
Hybrid Technologies | bass cl, perc, pno, vln, vlc, cb, electronics | 2022, 10’
Strange(r) Things | fl, blockfl, hf, harpsichord | 2021, 12’
For Two Trios, Live Electronics, and Light | bass cl, gtr, hfe, perc, vla, vlc, electronics, | 2013, 12′
Processions | fl, ob, sax, vlc | 2010, 8’

8 – 12 Performers

HERKUNFT | fl, cl, e-gtr, acc, perc, pno, vln, vla, vlc, electronics (tape) | 2024, 22′
A Dark Light / A Black Sun | fl, cl, tp, perc, pno, vln, vlc, cb, electronics | 2023, 12’
Hybrid Technologies | fl, cl, acc, perc, pno, vlc, vlc, cb, electronics | 2022, 10’
Adjacent rooms, a part of a labyrinth | fl, cl, sax, tp, tb, acc, hf, pno, vln, vla, vlc, cb | 2020, 11’
Imaginary Devices: Book I | fl, ob, cl, acc, pno, vlc, vla, vlc, cb | 2020, 13’
Adjacent rooms, for Borges | fl, ob, cl, pno, vln, vla, vlc | 2018, 7’30’’
Five Love Songs | fl, cl, tp, gtr, pno, perc, vln, vlc, cb | 2015, 13’
Seventeen Thoughts on a Chamber Concerto | fl, ob, cl, gtr, md, hf, pno, perc, vln, vla, vlc | 2013, 15’
for Oboe and Ensemble | fl, solo ob, cl, hr, tp, tb, pno, vln I, vln II, vla, vlc, cb | 2017, 7’
Il voto dell’innocenza | 2 cl, keyboard, pno, perc, e–gtr, cb, sinewaves | 2012, 9’
‘I hear the fragile beauty of mortal earth’ | fl, ob, cl, gtr, md, hf, pno, perc, vln, vla, vlc | 2011, 8’

Music Theatre

Subterranean | 2022, 50’
A Sensorium | 2016, 40’

Orchestra

A Portrait of Atatürk as a Young General | Narrator and Orchestra | 2017, 13’

Contact

[email protected]