Passage to Ghostland. İdil Özkan, Poyraz Baltacıgil.

Sei Solo- Be Alone 2020;
12 new solo compositions from the KK Composers Cauldron
6 for violin and 6 for cello

İdil Özkan
Passage to Ghostland; in memory of my father
Commissioned by Klasik Keyifler "Sei Solo"
for Poyraz Baltacıgil

When I got the commission to write a solo piece for cello, a three note motivic idea kept coming back at me; two earthy bass notes followed by an otherworldy harmonic one, a lonely sound swinging between worlds. It was the sound of my father, who was suffering from dementia. He was in a care home when the corona outbreak started and I was overwhelmed with the sense of loneliness I imagined him to be feeling; one of physical and emotional nature bestowed upon him by corona at the care home away from all his loved ones and a spiritual one from his illness, which rubbed him of words, speech, memories and possibly a meaningful sense of self.
“Passage to Ghostland” is about my father, its about his confusing regression into dementia, his being tugged back and forth between a foggy version of now and oblivion. The piece begins with the three note motive, hesitant, undecided in between worlds, continues into vivid memories, romantic phrases which cut and repeat like a broken record, surfacing and fading without coming to a full meaning. The piece does not develop but glides from one section to next and ends rather unexpectedly, like his death
on July 19th, 2020 from a minor infection.

#klasikkeyifler
#adamüzik
#üçhansanatprodüksiyon
#habitattv
#idilözkan
#poyrazbaltacıgil

İdil Özkan
İdil Özkan is a pianist and composer. İdil graduated from İstanbul State Conservatory- Piano Performance and won awards in several competitions as a pianist and accompanist, including the 3. Prize in Mozart Competition in Rome and 1. Prize in Jugend Musiziert Competition in Cairo. İdil also graduated from Boğaziçi University- Psychology concurrently. She got interested in jazz and improvisational music, and went to Berklee College of Music to study Film Scoring and Jazz. She worked with composer- pianist Lera Auerbach in New York City. After returning to Turkey she completed her master’s degree in composition at İTÜ-MİAM (Müzik İleri Araştırmalar Merkezi) where she worked with composer Michael Ellison. İdil writes contemporary classical music as well as music for film and Tv projects, enjoys improvisations and creative collaborations with artists in various fields. Nature is a big inspiration, so are music and books.

Poyraz Baltacıgil
Poyraz Baltacıgil was born in 1994, in Istanbul. He started playing violin at the age of 5 and decided to play the cello when he was 6. He entered the cello class of Hakkı Öztürk at The Istanbul University State Conservatory as part-time student. In 2005, Poyraz started the Conservatory of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University as a full-time student at Dilbağ Tokay's class and graduated in 2015. Same year he has been selected as a master student to the class of Jean-Guihen Queyras. He won 3rd Prize in "International Competition Young Virtuosos" in Bulgaria, and 1st Prize at "Benyamin Sönmez National Cello Competition" with Natalia Gutman's jury leading. He has also been selected "The Best Young Musician of the Year 2016" by Andante Classical Music Magazine. During his study, he has played to many world-known cellists as; Yo-Yo Ma, Alexander Rudin, Natalia Gutman, Steven Isserlis, Martin Ostertag, Johannes Moser, Maria Kliegel, Wolfgang Boettcher, Tomasz Strahl, Christoph Henkel, Tristan Cornut, Reşit Erzin, Gustav Rivinius, Martti Rousi and Knut Weber.
He has performed with many orchestras in Turkey and was invited to İş Sanat Festival's Opening Concert with Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sascha Goetzel. He played Beethoven's Triple Concerto with Hande Küden and Ferhat Can Büyük. At the moment, Baltacigil works as Associate Principal Cellist at Borusan İstanbul Philharmonic Orchestra. Also he teaches at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Poyraz is a Larsen Strings performing artist.

Producers: Ellen Jewett, Onur Türkmen
Sound Engineer: Kıvılcım Konca
Video: Mehmet Gökhan Bağcı, Habitat TV
Recorded at Ada Müzik Studio, Istanbul