Premiered by Hezarfen Ensemble in June, 2022 at Arter Contemporary Art Museum, Istanbul.

Özcan Ulucan, violin
İmge Tilif, violin
Ulrich Mertin, viola
Mehmet Gökhan Bağcı, violoncello

The word “Aphotic” means the deep zone of the ocean that receives suboptimal illumination. This title alludes to the perception the ears create when detecting “pure elements” in a crowded texture, resembling the perception of light in pure darkness. The piece seeks the musical equivalent of the elements of an organic component, varying constantly in itself and transforming simultaneously by interacting with each other. Throughout the piece, the delicate interrelations between elements stimulate sensibility to details and provide a critical listening experience.

APHOTIC for string quartet (2022)

Curtis Institute Student- mainly human, sometimes emotional, part-time sleeping/generally devoted

Konstantinos Baras, a Greek composer with a passion for complex and saturated sound, embarked on his musical journey following a diagnosis of HanDL syndrome at the age of 18. Baras is recognized for creating works that convey intense emotions and delve into the complexities of trauma, employing visceral, chaotic sounds marked by a continuous energy flow and aggressive gestures. 

Utilizing digital signal processing, noise, distortion and live interactivity, Baras extends the timbral profile of traditional instruments and seamlessly blends disjunct materials into unified structures. With interest in site-specificity and interdisciplinary collaboration, he works often with dancers and movement artists and engages creatively with space, lights, and visual effects. 

His continued entanglement with black metal and techno contributes to an arrestingly distinctive sound palette, exploring the potential of repetition and bodily mechanics to intensify a sound’s impact on the listener. Toward that aim, Baras organizes his compositions through various processes of iteration and fragmented circularity, manipulating duration and density, often utilizing repetitive material but subtly altering it with every reappearance. The end result is driving, gripping, and grave.

His music has been performed and commissioned by Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain Moscow Contemporary Ensemble (MCME), Vertixe Sonora Ensemble,Ensemble Multilaterale, among other, with performances in festivals and conferences such as, IRCAM ManiFeste, MIXTUR, Darmstadt, reMusik, ilSuono, Ticino Musica, among others.

Currently pursuing a PhD in Composition at Northwestern University, Baras holds Masters degree from Boston University, and Bachelors degree Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

👻🫥🫨😧🤤🤤🤤🤢🤮🤑🤧😵‍💫😵🫨🫥

based in izmir
toykanefekahraman@gmail.com

Toykan Efe Kahraman (b.1999, Izmir, Turkey) is a composer based in Izmir/Turkey who focuses on treating sound as a single hybrid entities derived from the dialectical juxtaposition of elements such as rigidity - fluidity, flowness - frozenness resulting from the combination of single sound organism. This enjoy portraying sonorous narratives, and this inclination consistently transforms their behaviors into a sonic experiment.

My personal interest like a composer and Sound Artist is to expand the context of sound building my own analogue or digital instruments or using external sources like electronic means (live electronics, video, space, image and movement) and also, the interaction with other arts such as dance and/or Theatre, in order to create new possibilities and new ways of perception for the audience. As an Improviser, wingel looks for different devices as a source of sound, from analog to digital and programming, such as; tape recordings, tape loops, toys, DJ turntables and Supercollider for audio Synthesis. Moreover, he had improvised for different theatres and dance companies. In addition, he had improvised as a soloist and with different ensembles.

You can get 12" vinyl of all my albums on bandcamp.
Please follow my youtube channel for my videos-
and my instagram for my visual art.  Thanks!

APHOTIC for string quartet (2022)

Ada Dinçer