Eren Gümrükçüoglu's new composition to be featured at the Taproot New Music Festival (UC Davis)

Gümrükçüoglu's new piece, Optimist (to a 1958 text by Nazim Hikmet), was written for the occasion and will have its world premiere at the Taproot Festival by the Quince Ensemble on January 30, 2020.  During the festival,  Gümrükçüoglu will also give a presentation on his compositional processes. MORE 

Eren Gümrükçüoglu (b. 1982) is a Turkish composer currently based in Durham, NC, where he is a PhD candidate in music composition at Duke University. Eren’s music dwells on the borders between styles. As a concert music composer with a strong jazz background, he refrains from creating a crass amalgam of genres but rather incorporates the idiosyncrasies, contours, shapes, rhythms and pacings of different styles into his music.

Eren holds master’s degrees from Duke University and Istanbul Technical University, and a bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston. His music has been performed in festivals around US and Europe such as June in Buffalo, SICPP, Boston New Music Initiative, ilSuono Contemporary Music Week and ITU/MIAM New Music Days. Performers of his music include JACK Quartet, Mivos Quartet, Semiosis Quartet, Ensemble Suono Giallo, New York Polyphony, Conrad Tao, Richard Valitutto, Rachel Beetz, Reuben de Lautour, Ulrich Mertin, Deviant Septet, yMusic Ensemble, Naked Drum Project, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, and Metropole Orkest.