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Hasan Uçarsu was born in Istanbul in 1965. At the age of 11, he began musical training as a part time flute student at the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory. In 1983, he took private lessons from Mammber Sun for a short time. After finishing high school, he entered the Department of Composition at the State Conservatory of Mimar Sinan University. During the undergraduate program (1983-1990), Uçarsu became a student of Ahmed Adnan Sayfun; in the graduate program (1990-1992) he studied composition with Cengiz Tanç. In the meantime, he attended the courses given by Cemal Reşit Rey, Bülent Tarcan, İlhan Usmanbaş, Afşar Timuçin, and Ahmet Yürür. In 1994, he went to the USA and worked with George Crumb and Richard Wernick. In 1997, Uçarsu completed his doctoral degree at the University of Pennsylvania in the field of composition. Since 1998, he has been teaching at the Department of Composition and conducting in the State Conservatory at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University as an Associate Professor of Composition. In 2009, Uçarsu was invited by the Music School of Memphis University in Memphis, Tennessee, as a visiting composer and a faculty member. He also taught composition for master classes at Ayvalık International Music Academy in the summer of 2007. Uçarsu has received many awards including the David Halstead Composition Award for his work titled Monologue; the Helen G. Weiss Composition Award for his work Mystic Fragments (University of Pennsylvania in 1995 and 1996); the first prize in the first Dr. Nejat Eczacıbaşı National Competition for Composition with his work Cries, Memories and a Little Dream (Izmir, 1996). Uçarsu shared the first prize in the Second Dr. Nejat Eczacıbaşı National Competition for Composition with his orchestral work Comet (Izmir, 1998). With his ballet music “Ishmael’s Story”, Uçarsu was given the second prize in the category of Large-schale Sumphonic Works in the National Competition for Composition in Ankara in 2004, which was organized by the Ministry of Culture. He was honored with the title of Dean’s Scholar in 1997 by the University of Pennsylvania in Pennsylvania for his academic studies.
Among his commissioned works are: the choral works for the youth and the polyphonic choruese of the TRT; the orchestral works for the Ministry of Culture; Mediterranean Youth Orchestra and Tekfen Culture and Art Foundation; the Chamber Music for the Istanbul Culture and Art Foundation; and the Chamber Music Commissioned for the “Silk Road Project” whose art director was Yo Yo Ma.
His works have been performed by the leading orchestras such as Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Istanbul, Izmir and Bursa State Symphony Orchestras, Akbank Chamber Orchestra, Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra, Bilkent Academic Symphony Orchestra in Turkey; the Moldova Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Moscow New Music Group, Antifonia Chorus (Romania), Schola Cantorum Chorus (Wien), Selonica New Music Ensemble, Tampa Bay Woodwind Quintet, Ensemble Mosaic (Berlin), New Music Ensemble in Boston, Art Woodwind Quintet (Skopje), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, 10:10 Group, Lisboa Contemporary Music Group, Ensamble Phoenix (Basel) and Seattle Chamber Players (Washington DC). These works have been performed in many concerts within the framework of different activities both in Turkey and abroad. The composer’s work of chamber music titled “On the Backstreets of Istanbul”, which he composed for the “Silk Road Project”, is included in G. Schirmer’s catalogue. His musical compositions are recorded in the CDs produced by Bilkent Music Productions, Kalan Music, PB Productions Ltd., CD Baby and by the TRT.
Reference: hasanucarsu.com, beethovenlives.net
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