Ayşe Önal Zamboğlu -
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- California is fortunate to have two very talented musicians; Zeynep Üçbaşaran and Mesut Özgen. Both artists are natives of Turkey and are renowned for their extraordinary talent. This special California issue gives us the chance to take a close look at these two musicians’ careers and share their successful life stories with you.
Mesut Özgen is described by one of his fellow guitarists as a great virtuoso who will dazzle audiences for years to come. I got the chance to listen to him once. His distinctive style had character and flair; he was playing with compassion, right from the heart - a quality every artist craves for. After seeing him play, you are certain that he was born to do this. It surprises many to find out he started playing the guitar in 1981 during his medical school studies in Turkey.
 Guitarist Mesut Özgen. (Photo by Paul Schraub)
After seven years of medical practice, he decided to pursue his interest in music and moved to the U.S. to study guitar with Benjamin Verdery at Yale School of Music. He received his Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma from Yale and got his D.M.A. in solo performance with Prof. Frank Koonce at Arizona State University.
He made use of his background in medicine in his doctoral thesis, "Designing Technical Training Programs for Classical Guitarists Based on Exercise Physiology Principles," in which he combined information from the various sub-disciplines of kinesiology, including functional anatomy, biomechanics, and exercise physiology, as they relate to guitar-playing.
He was the first guitarist to be awarded the "Dean's Prize," which is the highest honorary prize of the Yale School of Music. In addition to his great talent as a virtuoso, he is a wonderful teacher, appreciated by his many students around the world. He has performed and taught master classes throughout the United States, Spain, and Turkey and has been a faculty member at the University of California, Santa Cruz, teaching guitar, since 1998.
Besides his work as a composer, Mesut Özgen has been a strong advocate of new music for guitar and frequently collaborates with other composers. Özgen has also a long-standing interest in bringing classical guitar music to a larger audience. His staged performances include “Folkie Classical Guitar,” presenting classical music based on various folk cultures, with special stage design and costumes, as well as “Pick and Roll” for guitar ensemble by Ben Verdery, featuring a basketball player in dialogue with the ensemble and utilizing spatial elements in the hall.
He keeps busy with teaching, as well as with his regular solo recitals, writing solo, duo, and ensemble music for guitar and other instruments based on or influenced by traditional Turkish music. Özgen's solo CD "Troubadour" features classical guitar works inspired by Turkish, Spanish, Argentinean, and American folk traditions.
REVIEWS OF MESUT ÖZGEN
GuitArt International (Italy): "Glimpse inside the future of concert art...” [on New Dimensions in Classical Guitar]
Guitar Review (New York): "This CD [Troubadour] is a shining example of this guitarist's great talent."
Acoustic Guitar (California): “Özgen’s playing is stunningly versatile and expressive throughout.”
Classical Guitar (England): "This is the finest music DVD ever...both the sound and the vision are of pristine quality...remarkable achievement..." [on New Dimensions in Classical Guitar]
Santa Cruz Sentinel (California): "Özgen displayed spectacular classical guitar at the Distinguished Artists concert..." [on New Dimensions in Classical Guitar]
PIANIST ZEYNEP ÜÇBAŞARAN
Unlike Mesut Ozgen, pianist Zeynep Üçbaşaran started her music career at the age of four. She was among the youngest to be accepted to the Istanbul Conservatory. During her first years as a very young pianist she studied with Rana Erksan and Ozen Veziroglu. Her extraordinary talent was instantly recognized. In 1987 Üçbaşaran enrolled in the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where she studied under Prof. Zempleni Kornel, Prof. Katalin Nemes (pupil of Bela Bartok), Balazs Kecskes, and Prof. Istvan Lantos.
She received her Concert Artist Diploma from the Liszt Academy of Music. After obtaining her Teacher and Concert Artist Diploma in 1994, she entered the Hochschule fur Musik, Freiburg, Germany and continued her studies with Prof. Dr. Tibor Szasz. Üçbaşaran received her Diploma in Aufbaustudium from the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany. After Germany she came to the U.S. to further her studies. She has obtained her MA and DMA degrees in Piano Performance from the University of Southern California, where she studied with John Perry.
 Pianist Zeynep Üçba_aran.
Her style has been described as being clean and clear, deep and true and able to get to the point without any frills.
In 1996, Üçbaşaran won the Second Prize at the Los Angeles Liszt Competition. She was awarded an Honorable Mention in the same competition in 2000. Her awards include the American Liszt Society Award, the Rozsnyai Memorial Award, the Ina Broida Award from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Southern California Associates Music Merit Scholarship. She is also a recipient of the MAA 2001 Aspen Summer Music Festival Scholarship, where she was selected to play in the distinguished artist Master Class of Leon Fleisher.
She was designated a "woman of distinction in the year 2003" by the Daughters of Ataturk organization in the US. She has given many recitals and concerts in Turkey, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, Egypt, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Belarus, and in the United States. Her Wigmore Hall debut in London was in November 2004.
Her album, W. A. Mozart (Eroica JDT3311), which was issued in March 2007, was very well received in the classical music community. Andrew Druckenbrod of The Gramophone, a very well respected classical music magazine, wrote, “A fine pianist finds bubbling delight in Mozart: Üçbaşaran has a remarkable affinity for tonal shading; she keenly understands how chords and sonorities function in a given phrase.. She does not let a single phrase pass by her without considering its function in the greater context of the piece, and tempi are ever so slightly inflected throughout to brilliant results. This infuses Mozart with a continual bubbling energy that is delightful to hear."
In February 2007, she recorded the piano music of the Turkish composer A. Adnan Saygun for Naxos International. Her CD is available as of April 29, 2008 worldwide.
Zeynep Üçbaşaran is currently residing in Santa Barbara, California with her family. She is keeping up with her busy schedule of concerts. When asked about where classical music stands in Turkey, she says the interest from the community is not as high as she would like it to be. She says to support the composers in Turkey; artists living abroad should include pieces by Turkish composers in their work.
REVIESW OF ZEYNEP ÜÇBAŞARAN
The Gramophone : "An agreeable elegance pervades pianist Zeynep Ucbasaran's playing.."
All Music Guide: "As a Mozart player, Ucbasaran touches the sublime..."
Audiophile Audition: "Ucbasaran’s strong suit is her clean articulation girded by a powerful sonority..."
MusicWeb: "An excellent recommendation for three of Mozart’s rarer sonatas played with real conviction.." American Record Guide: "The Turkish pianist gives us objective performances of clarity, sharp detail, rhythmic vitality, and integrity..."
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