Emre Araci1

Dr Emre Aracı is a Turkish music historian, composer and conductor who has been living in the United Kingdom since 1987. He has made original contributions to the scholarship of Turkish music through his pioneering research focusing primarily on the European musical practice in the Ottoman court.

Aracı studied music at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1994 with a BMus (Hons.) degree which was followed by a PhD in 1999. Supported by Lady Lucinda Mackay and the Inchcape Foundation, the subject of his thesis was the life and works of Turkey's eminent 20th century composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun (1907--1991).

During his years at Edinburgh, Aracı played an active role in the musical life of the university and founded the Edinburgh University String Orchestra, which still continues to give regular concerts and is run by student volunteers. In 2000 the orchestra established the Emre Aracı Composition Prize which has since been annually awarded to young aspiring student composers.

Thanks to a funding by the Turkish Economy Bank (TEB), between 1999-2002 Aracı was Research Associate at the Skilliter Centre for Ottoman Studies, University of Cambridge, where his interest in the European music of the Ottoman Empire grew. In 1999 he also founded a string orchestra called The London Academy of Ottoman Court Music who performed his own orchestrations of compositions by Italian musicians resident at the Turkish court in the 19th century, as well as original works by Ottoman sultans in the popular dance forms of the period, such as waltzes, polkas and mazurkas. The ensemble which was in existence between 1999 and 2003 performed in London at venues including St James's Piccadilly and St John's Smith Square. At Cambridge they gave an historic concert in the Chapel of Trinity College in 2000. Warner Classics released an album featuring a selection of these imperial compositions recorded by the ensemble in 2002, under the title of Invitation to the Seraglio. In Turkey the same material was pre-released by Kalan Records on two CDs; European Music at the Ottoman Court and War and Peace: Crimea 1853-56.

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