Piano Quartet “Far Variations”
Composed by
Kamran Ince
Premiered
by Los Angeles Piano Quartet on March 31, 2010
Kamran Ince has been hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “that rare composer able to sound connected with modern music and yet still seem exotic.” Ince was born in Montana, but at age six moved with his family to Turkey. He returned to the U.S. to study at Oberlin College and later completed a doctoral degree at Eastman. He currently serves both as Professor of Composition at the University of Memphis and Co-Director of MIAM (Center for Advanced research in Music) at the Istanbul Technical University.
Ince’s symphonic works have been performed by numerous leading orchestras, and he has composed prolifically in genres such as film and ballet. His awards include the Prix de Rome, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Lili Boulanger Prize. His “Waves of Talya” was named one of the best chamber works of the 20th century by a living composer in Chamber Music Magazine. He continues to work on “Judgment of Midas,” an opera commissioned to mark the 50th anniversary of the Sardis/Lydia excavations (sponsored by Harvard and Cornell Universities). It is slated for premiere performances in 2011 in various locations around the world.
Ince’s music can be described as post-minimalist in that it utilizes essentially repetitive patterns and avoids traditional tonalities. Ethnic influences are particularly strong in his work, and he has on occasion combined Turkish and Western instruments in his ensembles.
Ince’s “Far Variations” was commissioned by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music with the sponsorship ofPerformances: Los Angeles Piano Quartet, University of South Carolina, April 16, 2010; Balkanikus, University of Minnesota, May 2, 2010; Istanbul Modern Music Ensemble, Macka, Istanbul, May 26, 2010.
Sherrill Akyol in memory of Dr. Salim Akyol, an avid violinist and a compassionate “doctor’s doctor” who was devoted to his patients both in Turkish villages and the urban U.S. The quartet was completed in December 2009.
The composer writes: “Dr. Salim Akyol (1923-1998) grew up in Turkey, but after medical school spent most of his life in the United States. He loved the US. But he never stopped longing for his home country-the sights, the sounds, the culture, the food, and the people. This love and longing from a great distance is the inspiration for ‘Far Variations.’
“My personal experience from being based in these two countries helps me to imagine what Dr. Akyol must have felt. It is exciting, a lot of fun and a privilege to belong to two countries, but emotionally not always easy. Being a doctor and a father in the U.S., Dr. Akyol could not travel to Turkey often. His love had to be from a distance.”
Sponsored by: Sherrill Akyol, in memory of Dr. Salim Akyol