| "Dueling Strings" Santa Cruz Guitar
Orchestra Spring Concert 2011
Over the Sea: SC Chamber Players Concerts
Santa Cruz Guitar
Orchestra Winter Concert 2011
New composition to be premiered on March 19, 2011
Santa Cruz Guitar
Orchestra Fall Concert 2010
Anatolian Fantasy with
the Ozgen Trio
Santa Cruz Guitar Orchestra
Auditions
"Designing Technical
Training Programs" book release
"New Dimensions
in Classical Guitar - DVD" release
"New Dimensions
in Classical Guitar" broadcast on TV
"New Dimensions
in Classical Guitar" wins 2006 Telly Award
"New Dimensions
in Classical Guitar" DVD presented at GFA
"Troubadour"
"New Dimensions
in Classical Guitar" premiered in March 2004
Artist in Residence
at the Mello Center
The Santa Cruz Guitar Orchestra, directed by Mesut Ozgen,
will present the final concert of the 2010-11 season at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, California on Tuesday, May 17, 2011
at 7:30 pm more...
Featured in a Metro Santa Cruz article.
The Santa Cruz Chamber Players Concert Series continues the 2010-2011 season with a concert featuring music inspired by the oceans. The program includes works by Toru Takemitsu, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Tsuneya Tanabe, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Carl Nielsen, Sarah Dubois, and Mesut Özgen more...
The Santa Cruz Guitar Orchestra, directed by Mesut Ozgen,
will present its Winter Concert at the Mt. Calvary Lutheran
Church in Soquel, California on Sunday, February 20, 2011
at 4 pm. more...
Mesut's new composition "Mavi Yolculuk (Blue Journey) for flute, cello, and guitar will be premiered by Lars Johannesson, flute, Amy Brodo, cello, and Mesut Özgen, guitar in the SC Chamber Players Concerts "Over the Sea" on March 19-20, 2011.
The Santa Cruz Guitar Orchestra, directed by Mesut Ozgen,
will present its Fall Concert at the Mt. Calvary Lutheran
Church in Soquel, California on Sunday, November 21, 2010
at 4 pm. more...
Music from Istanbul and the Ottoman Court
The UCSC Music Department's "Friday Night Live"
series kicks off the 2010-2011 season with a concert featuring
faculty guitarist Mesut Özgen leading the Özgen
Trio, with Turkish kemençe master Neva Özgen and
flutist Kathleen Purcell, presenting a repertoire from the
classical and folk musics of Turkey on Friday, October 22,
2010, 7:30 pm at UCSC Music Center Recital Hall. The program
includes works by Prince Dimitrie Cantemir, Yalçin
Tura, Mesut Özgen, and David Evan Jones, whose new piece
for kemençe, guitar, and computer-generated tape will
receive its premiere at this concert. Neva Özgen, a master
of kemençe (Turkish bowed instrument with gut strings)
and one of the most respected improvisers in Turkish classical
music, currently teaches at the Istanbul University Turkish
Music Conservatory. For more information call the UCSC Ticket
Box Officet at 831-459-2159 or email at tickets@ucsc.edu.
A repeat concert will also be presented at the St. Mary's
by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Pacific Grove on Saturday,
October 23.
more...
The Santa Cruz Guitar Orchestra is accepting new players.
The orchestra meets in three two-month sessions: October-November,
January-February, and April-May. In each session, ten rehearsals
will take place during the weekends, culminating with a public
concert. Players are expected to have basic reading skills
and a technical level from lower intermediate to advanced.
Other than classical guitarists, mandolin and bass players
are also welcome to join the orchestra. Auditions can be arranged
by appointment with Orchestra Director Mesut Özgen. For
more information and an audition request, contact Mesut at
guitar@mesutozgen.com.
Mesut's pedagogic research book "Designing
Technical Training Programs for Classical Guitarists Based
on Exercise Physiology Principles" is released
by Turquoise Guitar Editions.
The purpose of this research paper is to present technical
training programs for classical guitarists based on exercise
physiology principles, a subdiscipline of kinesiology that
examines biophysical foundations of human movement. Two other
subdisciplines of kinesiology are also discussed in the study
as they relate to playing guitar: functional anatomy and biomechanics.
more...
Mesut's award-winning multimedia concert DVD "New Dimensions
in Classical Guitar" is released on Turquoise
Guitar Editions, featuring solo and duo classical
guitar works accompanied by various visual designs. It includes
five premiere performances of new works by Benjamin Verdery,
Robert Strizich, Pablo Ortiz, Anthony GIlbert, and Deepak
Ram (go to Recordings/Clips
for video excerpts)
DVD
Release Concert on October 13, 2007
Read
the Program Notes (about visuals, repertoire,
and composers from the DVD Menu)
Read
a review on Classical Guitar Magazine
Turquoise Guitar Editions
Amazon.com
Film
Baby
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UCTV has been broadcast one-hour selections from the "New
Dimensions in Classical Guitar" between May 8-14, 2006.
The premiere broadcast was last year in February 14-20, 2005.
UCTV is available nationwide on Dish Network (Channel 9412)
and on cable stations across California and nationwide in
the U.S., as well as on the Internet. (Visit
www.uctv.tv for more information on schedules
and availability)
The air times (U.S. Pacific time):
Mon, May 8, 2006 8:00am
Mon, May 8, 2006 11:00pm
Tue, May 9, 2006 5:00am
Wed, May 10, 2006 11:00am
Thu, May 11, 2006 2:00am
Fri, May 12, 2006 3:00pm
Sat, May 13, 2006 7:00pm
Sat, May 13, 2006 10:00pm
Sun, May 13, 2006 3:00pm
Program:
1. Sortija for solo guitar by Pablo Victor Ortiz (World premiere)
2. La Guitarra (on poetry by F.G. Lorca) for soprano, guitar,
and percussion by Robert Strizich (World premiere)
3. Shenandoah for solo guitar by Robert Beaser
4. Stars (after M.C. Escher) for recorder and guitar by Anthony
Gilbert (U.S. premiere)
5. Be Kind All the Time for guitar and digital delay by Benjamin
Verdery (World premiere)
Gustavo Vazquez, video
Peter Elsea, digital images
David Lee Cuthbert, scenic/lighting design
Mesut Ozgen, guitar
Lauren Rasmussen, soprano
Annette Bauer, recorder
Read
the DVD Program Notes
Listen audio excerpts at
Sound Clips
Watch video excerpts at Video
Clips
View screen-captures at Photo
Gallery
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"New Dimensions in Classical Guitar," the multimedia
new music video by Mesut Özgen, has won a 2006 Bronze
Telly Award in the Music Video category at the prestigious
27th Annual Telly Awards, an international competition honoring
outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and
programs. A one-hour television program was prepared for UCTV
with selections from the "New Dimensions in Classical
Guitar" DVD produced by Mesut Özgen, soon to be
released on Golden Horn Records. The program was nominated
by UCTV for consideration by the Tellys.
Rounding off the "New Dimensions in Classical Guitar"
crew were: Video Editor Mesut Özgen, Assistant Editor
Zachary Davis, Video Production Director Mark Plummer, Video
Artist Gustavo Vazquez, Digital Graphics Artist Peter Elsea,
and Scenic/Lighting Designer David Lee Cuthbert.
The Telly Awards is a major competition in the US advertising,
television, and video production fields, considered the highest
honor given to non-network programming, and is one of the
most sought-after awards by leading industry firms, production
companies, and ad agencies. The 27th Telly Awards Competition
received over 12,000 entries this year. Designed by the same
firm that makes the Oscar® and Emmy®, the Telly statuette
weighs more than 4.5 pounds. Each year, the Telly Awards generates
millions of impressions in national and local media.
Read
the DVD Program Notes
Listen audio excerpts at
Sound Clips
Watch video excerpts at Video
Clips
View screen-captures at Photo
Gallery
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Salome
Sandoval presented the "New Dimensions in
Classical Guitar" DVD in her lecture "Visuals and
Drama in the Classical Guitar Concert" at the Guitar
Foundation of America International Convention in Oberlin,
Ohio in October 2005.
Mesut's solo CD "Troubadour" is released on Golden
Horn Records. "Troubadour" features
classical guitar works inspired by various folk traditions,
including the premiere of "Sonata: Ondas do Mar de Vigo"
by Pratorius. (go to Recordings/Clips
for audio excerpts)
Read
the full program notes and order online at Turquoise Guitar
Editions
Amazon.com
CD
Baby
Golden Horn
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Mesut Özgen and friends in a Multimedia Performance
Visual Artists:
Gustavo Vazquez, video and stage choreography
Peter Elsea, digital images and multimedia design
David Lee Cuthbert, scenic/lighting design and stage choreography
Guest Artists: Deepak Ram (bansuri),
Annette Bauer (recorder),
Lauren Rasmussen (soprano)
Frequently collaborating with accomplished,
innovative composers, Mesut has long been a champion of new
music for guitar. His eclectic tastes, rooted predominantly
in traditional and folk musics of the world, have inspired
composers to combine avant-garde compositional techniques
with traditional tunes and rhythms. This concert features
world premiere performances of some of these works.
The program includes works by Anthony Gilbert, Anthony Newman, Benjamin
Verdery, Carlo Domeniconi, Christopher Pratorius, Deepak
Ram, Pablo Victor Ortiz, Robert Beaser, and
Robert Strizich.
New Dimensions in Classical Guitar is the collaborative effort of a multidisciplinary artistic team. Each musical composition is accompanied by a visual composition comprising video, interactive computer images, and particularized lighting design and stage choreography.
The video images support the music in various ways, setting an emotional mood through an abstract use of landscapes, animate and inanimate objects. Vazquez has prepared the video footage, exploring the relationship of sound as vibration and image as color temperature, which appears to be an abstraction to our rationality in many ways.
Elsea creates animated digital image patterns and manipulates them during the performance. His Visualizations Project is an exploration of methods to make visual images and performed music cohesive by generating and modifying images with the sound. A computer program analyzes the sound of the performer for volume, pitch, and timbre during the performance. This information is then used to produce the projected images.
The scenery and lighting design also set the mood of each piece and support the music by transforming the stage subtly during the performance according to the changing musical content, both between and within the same piece. Cuthbert's interest in multimedia as a theatrical device for story telling for years has led him to develop new design approaches for the New Dimensions in Classical Guitar .
This interdisciplinary collaboration between several art forms (music, visual arts, digital media, and theatre arts) aims to push the traditional boundaries of these art forms to explore visually enhanced stage presentations in classical music performance.
The first three performances of New Dimensions in Classical
Guitar are presented to California central coast audiences
in March 2004.
Read
more about the program, visuals, repertoire, and composers
Featured in articles on:
Metroactive
Music
Sentinel
Currents
Online
GuitArt
International January/March 2004, no.5
Read a Concert Review on Register-Pajaronian
Read a DVD Review on Classical
Guitar Magazine
Also, read a related article on Light
Millennium
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Mesut has become an Artist in Residence for the Mello
Center of Pajaro Valley Performing Arts Association
in 2004. The residency activities include concerts, workshops,
and lectures in Watsonville, California.
Featured in articles:
"Artists in Residence boosts theater in Pajaro Valley"
Santa Cruz Sentinel
"Turkey's Mesut Ozgen to perform multimedia classical
guitar concert"
Register-Pajaronian
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