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Acoustic - electronic
compositions

The Arrival of Mr.Z

2021

The Arrival of Mr.Z is the outcome of a two-year trajectory as artist-in-residence at the Dag in de Branding Festival. For the opera, Artaç invented five different musical characters. The piece addressed issues about faith, philosophy of life, ideals, and power. 

NRC **** " In addition to the beautiful design, and excellent execution (...), this was due to Artaç's music: alternately lyrical, powerful, visual and atmospheric"

 

 

Gece

2021

The Turkish word gece means ‘night’ and can also be used to express ‘blindness’ and ‘vulnerability’. Gece’s domain, therefore, is the dark, in which she (a soprano) lonely wanders, with nothing to hold on to but her nostalgic tales. The lights in her wig are the only source of lights for her tales and melodic lines. 

Performer: Brigitte van Hagen, soprano 

Robbrecht van Cauwenberghe, bajan

Prologue Lullaby

2021

A newly written prologue by poet Julia-Beth Harris and composer Meriç Artaç places the act firmly in the present. This creates a modern story about the tension between power and impotence, between a sense of duty and passion.

Henry Purcell - Dido en Aeneas

Meriç Artaç en Julia-Beth Harris - Prologue

Peter Leung - regie 

Irene Verburg - soprano 

Sophia Faltas - mezzosopraan 

Musicians of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra 

Dancer from the Nationale Ballet Academie 

Premiered @Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ,  Amsterdam

Yori

2020

Yori is a fearful and introverted character who is hiding – also in the cheerful melodies and harmonies played by his alter ego, the bass clarinet. Yori is challenged to show himself by voices in the electronics, but then he panics acutely: the music freezes. 

Performer: David Kweksilber

Electronics

FAUST [Working Title] -

The Moon Bridge

2020

FAUST [working title] opens up the space of Dutch National Opera to other sounds, music and languages, and explores the abundance of voices that are present in the world. Together with inspiring composers, arrangers and musicians from different places, the team imagines new landscapes in the world of music theatre.

 

This clip is a part of a new large-scale music theater production of FAUST [Working Title], an arrangement by Meriç Artaç of The Moon Bridge - Florence Beatrice Price. 

FALAZ

Cello Biënnale

2020

Falaz is a new cello concerto by Meriç Artaç written for Score Collective Ensemble and for Pieter Wispelwey Premiered @Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ,  Amsterdam.

 

Performers: Pieter Wispelwey

Score Collective Ensemble

Conductor: Ed Spanjaard

 

*52:35 Meriç Artaç - Falaz for cello en ensemble

Mr. Z

2020

An empty and abandoned city of Istanbul is the backdrop for Mr. Z. Meriç Artaç, artist-in-residence at Festival Dag in de Branding, was intrigued by the surreal sight of the city of her childhood. This desolate atmosphere sets the tone for the short film shot in Istanbul, and in which she introduces the character of Mr. Zanzun. Mr. Z scours a series of empty and abandoned places in the city, where he tried to capture the sounds of citizens hiding away from him. Mr. Z. is a fearsome and thoroughly enigmatic character hunter, who stalks his prey like a predator and collects their sounds like a magician.

Director: Gökdeniz Uslu

Mr. Z (performer): Selimcan Yalçın

Zizos

2020

Zizos is a new work by Meriç Artaç (Istanbul, 1990), artist-in-residence at Festival Dag in de Branding. She introduces a three-headed character named Zizos, inspired by the mythological figure of Cerberus. In this piece, Meriç creates a new language for the universe of Zizos, where each word or vowel is connected to a specific movement. Thus the score is written not only in music but also as a choreography.

Soprano: Viola Cheung 

Barione: Vojtěch Sembera

Flute and voice: Irene Ruiperez Canales

Percussion: Natalia Alvarez-Arenas

Costume: Carmen Schabracq

Rudan's Coffee Break

2019

 

Inspired by Pera Museum’s Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection Exhibition Coffee Break, Artaç centralizes the sounds of some objects associated with coffee preparation and service, such as coffee beans, grinder, kettle and coffee cups. The composition takes on a new dimension with the sounds that are heard from Rudan’s radio during his preparation.

Rudan’s Coffee Break invites the audience to explore the main character Rudan’s mind, with the inspiration it takes from coffee’s adventure, from the bean to the cup. During this journey, Hezarfen Ensemble accompanies the fictional character Rudan with their acoustic performance, and Meriç Artaç with her electronics.

KAYRA

2019

 

Callejón del Ruido Festival presented the chamber opera KAYRA on the 29th of March 2019 at El Teatro Juárez, Guanajuato, Mexico!

Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Guanajuato under the direction of Roberto Beltran-Zavala and the singers Dhyana Arom and Cynthia Sánchez performed Artaç's opera KAYRA.

 

GAIA

2018

 

GAIA was premiered on the 11th of March 2018 at DeLaMar, Amsterdam. The piece is composed for Doelen Ensemble and for 4 speakers.

DoelenEnsemble
Maarten van Veen - piano
Lisa Jacobs - violin
Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer - clarinet
m.m.v. Internationaal Danstheater
Neel Verdoorn - choreografie

Works from; Aaron Copeland, Leonard Bernstein, Max Richter, Philip Glass and Meriç Artaç.

 

The DoelenEnsemble and the International Dance Theater bring Edward Hopper's paintings to life with Aaron Copeland, Leonard Bernstein, Max Richter, Philip Glass and Meriç Artaç, and Neel Verdoorn's choreography. 

Abashante!

2016

 

Abashante! was performed on the 27th of May 2016 at Maaspodium, Rotterdam. The performance was a part of the project "Psyché & Electra" with AKOM Ensemble.

Choreography: Kirvan Fortuin
Composer: Meriç Artaç
Ensemble: AKOM Ensemble
Conductor: Roberto Beltran-Zavala
Dancers: Lea Giamattei, Erika Poletto, Justyn Brązowy, Alex de Vries, Yann Dorsaz
Light & Set Design: Kirvan Fortuin
Costumes: Codarts Costume Department

Iris

2015

 

An Iris (alpine variety) flourishes high up in the freezing mountains where chilly winds rage. Nights are rough. At dawn, rays of light set the mountain ablaze. The flower is unmoved. Observant, with an unblinking gaze. But not for long … This poetic piece was composed for Asko|Schönberg and performed in Amsterdam and The Hague in the spring of 2015.

 

Performer: Asko|Schönberg Ensemble

Resurrection of Cemetery Wake-up

2014

 

Moments of Resurrection of Cemetery Wake - Up from Made in Rotterdam 2014 and the Big Day Festival 2015 in De Doelen, Rotterdam.

 

Performer: AKOM Ensemble

Cemetery Wake-up

2014

 

"When the night falls on our cemetery, we, the dead, come to life.

Different life, different after life.

Different characters, different after life characters.

 

Slowly we wake up, one at a time, confused, dreamy, hypnotized, in denial, angry. Close your eyes and walk along.

Sooner or later you will be one of us."

 

Performer: AKOM Ensemble

 

 

 

 

 

The Clock

2013

 

In our society what we do and the quality of our work is influenced by how we deal with time. Are we fast enough and can we become even faster? Everything is developing so fast that we are trying to race with time, but in this race we are just humans. We are part of nature and part of the daily grind. Are we in rhythm with our nature or with the clock? This old clock is hanging in an old house and for 85 years he is doing his job. Warning the women in the house to cook and the husband to not be late to work. Even the children know when it is time for them to play. All of us have some goals. In this old clock there is only one goal; the 3 rotors that turn the clock in motion are trying to finish another hour. When the hour is completed and the 3 rotors did their job successfully the gong will sound, and by that it keeps the people in order. Every hour is a new beginning for monotony. This piece is the story of 3 rotors, their life and how they work, represented in 12 minutes.

Pictures

2013

 

"Pictures" is a musical representation of 5 paintings that are passing by. Every painting emphasizes a specific aspect like color, emotion or dynamics. Each picture has it's own characteristics and way of expressing itself through the art form of music. The first painting is "The Scream" from Edvard Munch. The second is from the Poplar series (Autumn) of Claude Monet. The third is a painting of Picasso for vip art fair. For the fourth painting I chose Donald Zolan's "Sabina In the Grass" and the piece ends with Vincent Van Gogh's " The Starry Night". When the pictures are being created by sound, try to imagine which one is in the foreground.

 

Performer : AKOM Ensemble

The Writer Quadraphonic

2013

 

Piece for electronics that was performed on february 2013 in Gaudeamus Jonge Componistenbal. This piece is about "the writer" who is typing a story about a girl. She is practicing singing in different rooms of a big house. While singing she appears in different rooms. The best way to experience this piece is to close your eyes and make your own imagination about a writer, a singing girl and a house.

Happy Bassoon Piece

2012

 

Piece for solo bassoon that was performed on May 2012.This piece is based on extended techniques of the bassoon. With this piece a player is experimenting new sounds and possible ways to play bassoon.


 

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