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Indigo Öz | for orchestra

Commissioned by Bilkent Symphony Orchestra as the “100th Anniversary of Turkish Republic Commission”.

Premier at 29th October 2023 | Bilkent Concert Hall (Ankara/TR)

Indigo Öz

“In The Great Park” (2024) for string quartet is written in homage to Amy Lowell’s 1918 poem “Appuldurcombe Park”. In the first stanza she describes a woman crumbling leaves in her hands surrounded by more endlessly falling, warping our perspective of time and grandeur in nature and womanhood. “In The Great Park” chases Lowell’s feeling of smallness and time standing still using constant gradually changing textures and harmonies.

Written for The Fiora Quartet

In The Great Park

for string orchestra, percussion and electronics.

Commissioned by Real Filharmonia de Galicia & Euskadiko Orkestra - Basque National Orchestra.

_
Euskadiko Orkestra;
Live electronics, Itziar Viloria;
Conductor, Baldur Brönnimann.

Live recording, May 25, 2024. Musikaste Festibala, Errenteria.

Oihartzun Gorriak (2024) for string orch, perc and electr

"from dust" is a first concert-long live set, made in collab with Pirahã, a new band based in Belgium. 

Commissioned by Centre Henri Pousseur (BE)

Recording from live performance on April 19th, 2025 @LE MOM, Liège, Belgium 

violin - Flora Campbell-Tiech 
cello - Ian-Elfinn Rosiu 
live electronics - Nicolas Roulive 

Sound engineer - Patrick Delges (Centre Henri Pousseur)

from dust

Frammento [94] - (2025) - for flute and double bass
Curva Minore

Alessandro Lo Giudice (flute)
Pietro Elia Barcellona (double bass)

Live recording on June 7, 2025 - Curva Minore archives
Sound engineer: Simone Sfameli
Sala Michele Perriera - Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Palermo




A fragment of farewell.
A voice suspended between presence and absence, between memory and disappearance. Like a turning point, the piece moves through a state of transition, where something comes to an end, and something else begins, uncertainly. Flute and double bass chase each other, touch, and imitate one another. Two distant registers searching for common ground, as if the sound could strive toward a single breath.
A dialogue of distances that stretch and contract, in a fragile but ever-moving balance.

Frammento [94] - (2025) - for flute and double bass

1. Fence
2. Dear
3. Limbs
4. Scull
5. Hear

poems by Susan Howe 

Clara Barbier Serrano – soprano

Ictus Ensemble: 
Tom Pauwels – e-guit
Jean-Luc Plouvier – keys
Andrés Ruiz González – trumpet

rec: France Musique 
broadcast & portrait: https://www.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/podcasts/creation-mondiale-l-integrale/own-de-brendan-champeaux-diffusion-integrale-4299829

Own (2025) | Ictus Ensemble

ALL ANSWERS FORBIDDEN – The Haunting of a Shattered Self (2025)
for soprano, Totem of loudspeakers, large ensemble and electronics

Bengisu Önder — composition and electronics
Natalia Laguens — text material
Orchestre des lauréats du Conservatoire
Simon Proust — conductor
Clémence Martel — soprano  

Arnau Gran i Ramero — technical support
Sébastien Tondo — sound engineer
Jean-Christophe Messonnier — mixing

Salle Rémy-Pflimlin, CNSMD Paris

Program Notes
I have always had a deep interest in psychology and the complexity of the human mind, and the starting point of this piece was my wish to explore existential questions. It feels very human to wonder: why are we here, what is our purpose, what does it all mean? And today, with everything around us, it often feels more difficult to take the time to connect deeply with ourselves.

The piece explores these existential themes from both a personal and philosophical perspective: the inner conflicts of an individual, the fragility of identity, and the shifting nature of the self in a world mediated by technology. It questions our era: is technology becoming more human, while human beings—haunted by emotional overload, a production-oriented lifestyle, and personal loss—are turning increasingly mechanical, disconnected from their deeper essence?

The music becomes a space where these tensions unfold: between presence and absence, impulse and reflection, expression and erasure, hope and despair.

To embody this, the piece features two soloists—the soprano and her alter ego, the Totem (a column of loudspeakers)—representing two facets of the same person. The soprano begins in a dark place: expressive, impulsive, emotionally raw, but her gestures gradually become more fragmented, restrained, even mechanical. In contrast, the Totem begins as an artificial, fragile voice—hesitant and distant—but gradually gains warmth, lyricism, and emotional presence, becoming the voice of hope. This creates an unexpected reversal of roles: the human voice falls into despair, while the machine longs to be human, searching for emotion and meaning. Often opposed, they sometimes mirror each other—two desynchronized reflections, briefly aligned in unsettling moments.

The subtitle, The Haunting of a Shattered Self, refers to this fragmentation of the self—the inner conflict of a person torn between despair and the will to exist. These existential questions are the reason behind the title All Answers Forbidden: it expresses the absurdity of waiting for clear answers to questions for which there are none. Yet the act of questioning remains essential— a profoundly human gesture.

Bengisu Önder

ALL ANSWERS FORBIDDEN – The Haunting of a Shattered Self

violin, cello, alto flute, eb clarinet, 2 percussions

as an antidote to fear of death, i eat the stars - for mixed ensemble

"Bientôt, ou jamais" for cello and electronics was the final project for the 2024–2025 “Cursus de composition et d'informatique musicale” at IRCAM (Paris), and was premiered on 10 September 2025 at the Concert du Cursus #1 in the Espace de projection by Alexa Ciciretti of the Ensemble Cairn, and Sergi Puig and Simone Conforti on live electronics.

Une rivière qui coule d'un point lumineux vers l'obscurité. Les émotions s'effondrent, étouffent et entraînent l'âme dans une spirale d'inconfort et de peur. Lorsque le temps s’arrête, un instant de paix et de réconfort se révèle. Le silence s’impose, et la nuit devient éternelle.

Performers: Alexa Ciciretti (cello), Sergi Puig & Simone Conforti (live electronics)
Duration: 11 minutes

Educational supervision at Ircam: Simone Conforti
IRCAM sound diffusion: Lucas Ciret
Sound engineer: Clément Marie
Sound mixing: Sergi Puig


Bientôt, ou jamais pour violoncelle et électronique (Live @ IRCAM, 2025)

Peyee Chen, Soprano
Eliane Tokeshi, Violin
Reese Chen, Viola
Andrés Hernández, Double Bass
Jeanne Hourez, Piano

February 16, 2025
Bates Recital Hall

Angelus Novus (2025) for Soprano, Piano, Violin, Viola, and Double Bass

Spektral Quartet

Clara Lyon, violin I
Maeve Feinberg, violin II
Doyle Armbrust, viola
Russell Rolen, cello

String Quartet

Emre Eröz

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