CURRENT

Bach has long been a guiding star for Özdemir. In his native Istanbul he sang as a boy chorister, Bach’s choral works. As a bassoonist, he played all of Bach’s sacred works, from the Passions to the Christmas oratorio. With THE SILENT CANTATA Özdemir pays his own very personal tribute to Bach. He selected arias and chorales from 12 sacred cantatas that Bach wrote, and rearranged them for bassoon and ensemble.

RAMEAU A LA TURQUE

Istanbul Music Festival TR | Club Berghain DE | Schloss Elmau DE | Wonderfeel Festival NL
Schleswig-Holstein Musikfest DE | Heilandskirche Berlin DE

Burak Özdemir has returned to his Turkish homeland and revived songs by the Ottoman Baroque composer Tanburi Mustafa Çavus and brought this ancient music with Parisian baroque legend Jean Philippe Rameau’s Les Indes galantes on RAMEAU A LA TURQUE. The bridge between these two contemporary musicians; Rameau and Çavus became an unheard and inspiring cultural bridge between western and oriental art music.

SAMPLING BAROQUE / PURCELL

Istanbul Music Festival TR | Club Babylon Istanbul TR

In the project SAMPLING BAROQUE / PURCELL Burak Özdemir and artists of ensemble Musica Sequenza introduce themselves to the dialogue of genres and styles of both baroque and electronic, developing a new kind of music that is free of ideology, curious, and sound-oriented. The world premiere performance is on May 24th at Club Babylon within the 52nd Istanbul Music Festival.

AMOUR FOU

Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe DE | Händelfestspiele Karlsruhe DE | Händel Festspiele Halle DE
Borusan Music House Istanbul TR

AMOUR FOU is an augmented concert with ecstatic opera arias by Händel to tell a dazzling love story between a bassoonist, a singer and a dancer. Özdemir’s bassoon, the unique voice of countertenor Nicolò Balducci and the modern dance by choreographer Dominik Höss will be accompanied by Musica Sequenza. Premiere performance was on 20. February at Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.

DONNE D’AMORE

Heinrich Schütz Haus DE

Baroque music by female composers is a repertoire that is rarely performed live in our times. For his latest project DONNE D’AMORE, Burak Özdemir has created a unique pasticcio program that exclusively contains works by female composers of the 16th and 17th centuries. The project highlights unknown pieces of music by amazing composers, such as Caccini, Vizzana, Strozzi, Meda and Leonarda.

INFERNO

MET Museum New York USA | Bargello Museum Florence ITA | Berliner Philharmonie DE
Sendesaal Bremen DE

INFERNO – the latest work of Özdemir, is based on Dante Alighieri. The work is commemorating the 700th year of Dante’s death. Magnificent soprano Diana Ramirez sings the title role. INFERNO is created in collaboration with The friends of the Bargello, Neustart Kultur Germany.

HÄNDEL MORPHINE

Händel Festspiele Halle DE | Christus Church Berlin DE | Uckermark Musikwochen DE

Burak Özdemir researches in his work MORPHINE the audile limits of an human ear, whether we can reach out to utopian fantasy landscapes, where the vulnerability and beauty of a daydreaming can be witnessed through a highly concentrated listening experience. MORPHINE with its virgin, transparent and ultimately surrounding aspects, unites us on an invisible, universal island of sonic existence.

BACH OPIUM

Bachfest Schaffhausen CH | Christus Church Berlin DE | Gröpelinger Baroque Festival DE

BACH OPIUM is an interactive modality, where listeners connect to the inner self, to energy of the others and to the architectural space. The work is committed to today’s people and the torrent of information that we face every day. We make multiple choices, so that our minds are pushed to the limits. OPIUM becomes a place to recalibrate, in which the listeners settle and emerge.

BACH : ATLAS PASSION

Stadttheater Schaffhausen CH

Özdemir with ATLAS PASSION created a choreographic installation within an architectural environment. Özdemir uses segments from Bible, Koran, Torah and passion music by Bach as the foundation for his work. The nucleus of this exhibition-like platform is supported by four sopranos, representing the angelic voices of Bach’s four passions, which are complemented by dancers, musicians, choir and visual designers in a dialogue.

DIALOGE / SASHA WALTZ & GUESTS

Festival d’Avignon FR

Choreographer Sasha Waltz celebrated the premiere of DIALOGUE at the Festival d’Avignon with Burak Özdemir and the French painter Guillaume Bruère. The artists collaborated in a freely improvised dialogue. The performers moved to the sound of Özdemir’s bassoon and his sound recordings. Özdemir recorded the demonstrations of Istanbul streets. The performance is dedicated to Gezi Park.

KASSIA

Ringlokschuppen Mülheim DE | Kampnagel Hamburg DE | Tak Theater Berlin DE
Theater im Ballsaal Bonn DE

Byzantine composer Kassia’s scores are now reimagined by Burak Özdemir for his latest opera: KASSIA. The work is orchestrated for voice, chamber orchestra and sound design. Musica Sequenza performs on period instruments of the 9th century, including byzantine violin kamancheh, organ, percussion and flutes. KASSIA is staged by kainkollektiv under the direction of Mirjam Schmuck.

SAMPLING BAROQUE / BACH

Bachfest Schaffhausen CH | Bach Akademie Stuttgart DE | Oranjewoud Festival NL
Stadttheater Darmstadt DE | Radial System V Berlin DE | Borusan House Istanbul TR

SAMPLING BAROQUE / BACH a blend of eras and styles, developed a new type of music; electro-baroque, a new genre defined by Burak Özdemir & Musica Sequenza. This new music is curious, free of ideology and sound-oriented, where period instruments of 18th century join synthesizers and digital sound machines. The scores of Johann Sebastian Bach are now brought to the younger audiences of the urban club scene.

SAMPLING BAROQUE / HANDEL

Istanbul Music Festival TR | Konzerthaus Berlin DE | Radial System V Berlin DE
Händel Festspiele Halle DE | Berghain Kantine DE | Delphi Kino Berlin DE

SAMPLING BAROQUE / HANDEL an unusual and thrilling conjunction between Händel’s baroque arias and Özdemir’s live electronic, is another signature project by Musica Sequenza. that defines the genre electro-baroque. Every aria in the program has its own world of sound. The timeless feelings of Händel’s melodies can be heard in a dialogue with today’s technologies. The album is available from Sony Music as CD, LP & Digital.

ZUHÖREN / SASHA WALTZ & GUESTS

Radial System V Berlin DE

ZUHÖREN – created by choreographer Sasha Waltz, is a meeting room for small and large conversations on social-political subjects, shared meals and performances with different hosts. The live music is performed by Burak Özdemir and ensemble Musica Sequenza, Dorit Chrysler and Karim Wasfi. The installations will evolve dynamically throughout the week through the participation of different people and initiatives.

DEVAS

Borusan Music House TR | Christus Church Berlin DE

Devas are the divine deities in Hinduism. This time, Buraks inspiration came from India. India is a country of temples and many deities, which allowed the music of DEVAS to become an urban shamanic ritual. The Indian sounds in the score bring a World music quality to the project. Each track is a combination of multiple genres such as world, jazz, ambient, techno, minimalism and electronica.

HERMES

Silent Green Berlin DE | Karavaan Festival NL | Borusan Music House TR | Christus Church Berlin DE

HERMES – God of magicians, thieves and dreams. Micro tonality and ancient Greek modalities are the foundation for this electro-acoustic work. Voice, baroque bassoon, glass flute, gut strings, lute, lyre, and Persian percussions combined with field recordings and 3D sound design. All merge into one sensuous and disquieting masterpiece. HERMES album is out from Neue Meister. Available worldwide as CD, LP & digital.

VELAZQUEZ / WILD REALISM

Grand Palais Museum Paris FR

Internationally acclaimed director, Karim Ainouz‘ documentary film VELAZQUEZ / WILD REALISM allows us to assess the artistic and esthetic revolution that Spanish painter Diego Velazquez triggered. For the musical score, Burak Özdemir used both Spanish baroque music and his original compositions. The music of the film is recorded by the ensemble Musica Sequenza in Germany. DVD is now available on Arte Edition worldwide.

TRANSMUTE

Umspanwerk Berlin DE | Kantine am Berghain DE | Radial System V Berlin DE | Istanbul Festival

TRANSMUTE a digital work, characterized by strongly accented rhythm and layering of recurring IDM elements. Numerous, almost noise-like sounds and the experimental design of the work are part of Özdemir’s latest avant-garde. The first episode of TRANSMUTE was commissioned by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapon (ICAN). Further episodes were commissioned by the Early Music Biennale Berlin, Sasha Waltz & Guests and Radial System V.

OPERA DEL FUTURO

KitKat Club Berlin DE | Kölner Philharmonie DE | Radial System V Berlin DE
Baruch Performing Arts Center New York U.S.A

OPERA DEL FUTURO, a new interdisciplinary project, launched on creative platforms as Radial System, Kitkat Club and Cologne Philharmonic to support powerful encounters between actors, dancers, musicians and designers. Each episode bases on a baroque opera, where independent artistic approach causes a „recomposing“. The original work is confronted by the experimental theater and performance techniques.

VIVALDI : THE NEW 4 SEASONS

Schloss Elmau DE | Baruch Performing Arts Center New York U.S.A.
Berlin Light Festival DE

Burak Özdemir selected four out of 39 Vivaldi bassoon concertos to create his cycle for bassoon and chamber orchestra THE NEW FOUR SEASONS. Özdemir’s study on Vivaldi captures modern human life in an ecosystem that is under environmental strain. The contrasts between the seasons are no longer exist. Vivaldi reminds us the essence of a human being; is being in an harmonious relationship with nature.