Hakki Cengiz Eren

Turkish composer Hakki Cengiz Eren’s (b. 1984) music has been performed across the United States and Europe. Recent performances of his music have been given by renowned soloists and ensembles, including Garth Knox, Calvin Wiersma, Mak Grgic, members of ECCE (Diamanda Dramm, Paolo Vignoroli, Vasko Dukovski and Virginie Tarrête), Argus Quartet, Ensemble Nodus and the Thornton Edge.

Recipient of the Peter David Faith Memorial Award in Composition, Cengiz has also been a finalist in both the 2015 Donald Aird Earplay Competition and the 2013 Ensemble Et Cetera Composition Competition. In addition, he was one of the only chosen composers for the Ablaze Records Orchestral Masters, Vol.4.

Cengiz has participated in various international festivals, such as the Darmstadt Summer Course, Etchings Festival, Soundscape Festival, Once Festival Ann Arbor, Midwest Composers’ Symposium, Cappadocia Composers’ Cauldron Festival and Los Angeles Micro-Fest. In such festivals, he has studied so far with internationally renowned names like Beat Furrer, Franck Bedrossian, Mark Andre, Onur Türkmen, Joël Bons, Brian Hulse and Michael Quell among others.

He has completed his Bachelor’s degree in guitar performance at the Peabody Institute. This was followed by a Master’s degree in composition at University of Michigan. Cengiz has recently obtained a DMA in composition from the USC Thornton School of Music, where his main teachers have been Stephen Hartke, Donald Crockett and Sean Friar. In recent times, his music has evolved through the incorporation of microtonality and with it, a significantly revitalized pitch language.