Onur Dülger: Barzakh

(Submitted by ISCM – AUSTRIAN SECTION)

Onur Dülger, born in 1980 in Istanbul, received two BAs in composition from Istanbul University and University of Music Vienna. Two M.A.s for instrumental and electroacoustic composition from the University of Music Vienna, and a DMA at Boston University with Michael Obst, Karlheinz Essl, Chaya Czernowin, Joshua Fineberg. His pieces, which vary from solo to ensemble pieces with or without live electronics, focus on sound as a developing object which could be described as post-musique concrète instrumentale. His music is performed in various festivals in Europa, Asia and America Italy since 2001. He is an instructor at Anadolu University and a member of Istanbul Composers Collective.

About his 2016 string quartet Barzakh, the composer writes: “Barzakh” means separation in Arabic. Moreover, in the Islamic eschatology, it is a barrier between the physical and spiritual worlds. In this piece, I am using this idea as an inspiration to my creation so that a disrupting sound and its developments are separating the sound worlds and opening new dimensions for new musical spaces.