REFERENCES

    Midwest Young Artists Conservatory
 

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have had the opportunity to work with Mr. Umut Deniz Topcuoglu in the
performance of his music at the Turkish Ambassador’s office in Chicago on
August 23, 2018 with rehearsals immediately preceding the concert and
consultations starting in December of 2017.  Members of the Midwest Young
Artists Conservatory (MYAC) Orchestra and Chamber Music Programs prepared and performed five of his works.

The largest and most complex of them was “Symphonic Poem Altay
(Bortechine)”, a work for Piano, Flute, Oboe, Viola, Cello, drum and a
Turkish mouth harp. It was a most interesting work with major “cadenzas”
for drum and the mouth harp.  Mr. Topcuoglu is a virtuoso on the instrument
and created many interesting and truly creative sounds from the simple
instrument.  The work was also very well received by the quite large audience
as was evidenced by the standing ovation.  I believe this work deserves more
performances as the chamber version, which we did, and as a full orchestra
work, which I have seen a video of a rehearsal from Turkey.  

Mr. Topcuoglu’s talents were also on display in his work “First and Last
Breath”, a work for Ney (Turkish reed flute), flute, oboe, viola and cello. 
Again, a work that displayed the colors of his native Turkey were utilized in
this work and his Ney playing was outstanding.

The concert began with a short work reminiscent of Johann Sebastian Bach
titled “Little Fugue”.  This work might be considered a practice in the style of fugal writing for Mr. Topcuoglu.

His “Lament” was a beautiful movement featuring viola and piano.  It highlighted the colors of the viola, sounds that must be in his ear all the time because they were also obvious in many of his other works.  This work should be performed by violists on a regular basis as it represents well the singing character of the viola.

With dramatic pauses and huge dynamic contrasts, “Rebellion” was a work
for solo piano and was extremely well performed.  Like “Lament” for violists, “Rebellion” for pianists deserves more performances.

The collaboration among Mr. Topcuoglu, Neil Fleckman, an American supporter of
his works, MYAC students, and MYAC conductors Martin Nocedal and myself was
wonderful.  I was somewhat hesitant when we first talked because I have had
less than musical and social experiences with other young composers who have
approached me and MYAC ensembles to do their work but this was totally different.  Most importantly, the music in Mr. Topcuoglu’s mind and his works are very creative, interesting and, quite frankly, fun to play while being somewhat challenging at the same time.  I truly believe he has great potential as a composer, as well as being a virtuoso on the Ney!  I recommend you get to know his music!

Sincerely,

                                                                                 Allan Dennis
                                                                   Founder and Executive Director
                                                               Midwest Young Artists Conservatory
                                                                          allandennis@mya.org