Chamber Music of Turkish-American Composer Kamran Ince

Turkish-American composer Kamran Ince has been connecting Turkish and American cultures throughout his composition and teaching career. His post-minimalist style involves the energy of Turkish and Balkan folk music, the mysticism of Byzantium and Ottoman music, the tradition of western classical music and the accessible qualities of popular American musical genres. This treatise, in conjunction with two lectures, focuses on three of his chamber works: Two Step Passion (2011), Asumani (2012) and It’s a Nasreddin (2013). These works are examined in terms of cultural, geographical, and historical influences, and compositional elements. The goal of the research is to highlight Kamran Ince’s chamber work from the perspective of Turkish culture and history. His ethnic and original musical style is a significant addition to the existing flute repertoire. Ince’s musical language shows how every culture is beautiful and interesting. While the entire world is uniting culturally with technology, each ethnicity still has much to share and celebrate. This artistic attitude provides a model for the world to peacefully appreciate differences.