Hakan Ulus (*1991 in Buxtehude) is a German composer. He studied composition with Ernst Helmuth Flammer, Adriana Hölszky, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf and Tristan Murail at the Mozarteum University Salzburg (MA 2015) and the HMT Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Leipzig. As a composition scholarship holder of the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA), he also completed a master's degree in contemporary music at the HfMDK Frankfurt (MMus 2016). In 2022 he received his doctorate from the University of Huddersfield with the thesis "The Poly-Work as a Compositional Strategy in my Music" (supervisor: Aaron Cassidy, Liza Lim). He has taken part in numerous masterclasses with Pierluigi Billone, Brian Ferneyhough, Chaya Czernowin, Steven Takasugi, Dieter Schnebel and Dieter Mack, among others. He has also participated in the Next Generation program of the Donaueschinger Musiktage, the International Darmstadt Summer Courses, ManiFeste Academy Paris 2017, DRK Composers Residency Singapore 2015 and the Harvard Summer Composition Institute Residency 2014. He has received numerous scholarships for his works (e.g. State Scholarship for Composition 2022 from the Republic of Austria, residency scholarship at Schloss Wiepersdorf 2021, residency scholarship at the Thomas Bernhard House in Ottnang 2019, Berlin Scholarship 2017 from AdK Berlin, Artist in Residence Istanbul 2017 from Kunststiftung NRW, Jonathan Harvey Scholarship 2017-2020, International Ensemble Modern Academy 2015/16, Harvard Composition Institute Residency 2014, DRK International Composers Residency Singapore 2015, I-Park Foundation Residency 2015, Turkish Cultural Foundation 2014, Salzburg Working Scholarship 2014, EMAS 2014), prizes (including the International impuls Composition Prize 2017, International Composition Prize AuditivVokal 2019) and composition commissions (including impuls Festival AuditivVokal 2019, International Composition Prize AuditivVokal 2019).international impuls composition prize 2017, international composition prize AuditivVokal 2019) and composition commissions (e.g. impuls Festival, AuditivVokal, Australian National Academy of Music). His works are performed internationally by renowned performers such as Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble SurPlus, Ensemble intercontemporain, Ensemble Aventure, Talea Ensemble, IEMA Ensemble, Norbotten NEO, Hezarfen Ensemble, AuditivVokal Dresden, Trio Sostenuto, Ensemble Francaix and Ensemble mise-en. Festivals and performance venues: Salzburg Biennale, Klangspuren Schwaz, impuls Festival Graz, ManiFeste Paris, Australian National Academy of Music, KlangNetz Dresden, ZKM Karlsruhe, Kulturpalast Dresden, Beethovenfest Bonn. Cities: Berlin, Vienna, Graz, Paris, Orleans, New York, Boston, Singapore, Istanbul, Melbourne, Frankfurt, Salzburg, Leipzig, Dresden, Bonn, Freiburg, Munich, Düsseldorf, Hanover, Kassel, Klagenfurt, Heilbronn, Karlsruhe, Schwaz, Mönchengladbach, Huddersfield, East Haddam, Kalv, Weikersheim, Tolstefanz, among others. He has given master classes at the RCSM Madrid, Musikhochschule Detmold, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and the Udine Conservatory. His works have been published by Edition Gravis since 2019.
Selection of works: - Extinction II [2019] for 10 voices. Commissioned work of the AuditivVokal Dresden. World premiere: 09.11.2019, Dresden, Germany, AuditivVokal Dresden, Olaf Katzer. Duration: 7' - Tā Hā [2018] for large ensemble. Commissioned by the Impuls Festival Graz. Premiere: 15.02.2019, Graz, Austria, impuls Festival, Klangforum Wien, llan Volkov. Duration: 11' - Beton [2018] for female voice with sound objects, four clarinets and electronics. Commissioned by the Junge Akademie of the Akademie der Künste Berlin. World premiere: 28.04.2018, Berlin, Germany, Agora Artes. Duration: 15' - Precious Liquids [2017] for clarinet and string trio. Supported by the Kunststiftung NRW. Premiere: 01.07.2017, Paris, France, ManiFeste Festival, Ensemble intercontemporain. Duration: 7' - Tawāf [2016] for amplified piano, large ensemble and electronics. Commissioned by the International Ensemble Modern Academy. World premiere: 09.09.2016, Schwaz, Austria, Klangspuren, IEMA-Ensemble. Duration: 15' He is currently working on new works for the Sigma Project Quartet, Trio Catch and Ensemble El Perro Andaluz. Scientific profile Hakan Ulus holds a PhD in Composition/Artistic Research from the University of Huddersfield in the UK (supervisors: Aaron Cassidy and Liza Lim). He has given numerous lectures on his music, musicological and music aesthetic topics at the following institutions, among others: Harvard University, Salzburg Festival, Goethe University Frankfurt, Akademie der Künste Berlin, Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, University of Basel, National University of Singapore, IRCAM Paris, Kölner Philharmonie, GEMA Berlin, HMT Leipzig, University of Huddersfield, Mimar Sinan University Istanbul, Gesellschaft für ekmelische Musik Salzburg, Musikhochschule Detmold, City University of London, Conservatory of Music Jacopo Tomadini Udine. Publications are available from Wolke Verlag, Rombach Verlag, Musik & Ästhetik, MusikTexte and ÖMZ. His main areas of research are: Polywerk, Mannerism in contemporary art music, transculturality, hybridity, composition & research. Writings (selection): - Medusa and Mannerism. The problem of mannerism in contemporary art music from 1990 to 2015 with special consideration of the work Medusa (1990/92) for oboe and chamber orchestra by Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf (Master's thesis University Mozarteum 2015). - Erfahrungen, Realitäten, Visionen - Meine Probenerfahrungen und Vorschläge zur Verbesserung der Probenbedingungen komplexer Musik, in: Proben-Prozesse ed. by Wolfgang Gratzer. Freiburg: Rombach 2019, pp. 197-212. - The triumph of light music. Mannerist tendencies in contemporary art music, in: MusikTexte 157 (May 2018), pp. 33-37. - The Tuning Fork in My Life, in: CeReNeM Journal No. 7, ed. by Colin Frank. Huddersfield: CeReNeM 2020). - The Poly-Work as a Compositional Strategy in my Music. Works 2017-21. University of Huddersfield 2021 (PhD thesis).