The Imogen Cooper Music Trust scholarship holders’ recital
Sunday 8th October, 7.30pm
Doors open at 7pm
Evren Ozel – piano
Claude Debussy Images Book II
Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata no. 32 in C sharp minor, Op. 111
Frédéric Chopin Four Mazurkas, Op. 17
Three Mazurkas, Op. 50
Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op.22
“To work on masterpieces by Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann with as amazing an artist as Imogen Cooper in such beautiful surroundings was nothing short of extraordinary. I brought some of Schubert’s Moments Musicaux that were new pieces for me, and somehow in the open masterclass Imogen knew exactly the right words of advice to get me to improve my performance right away, drastically! I also played Beethoven’s op 111 sonata for her, which I had been working on for around a year, and she had so much to offer in terms of ideas and advice. The community of the Trust was so welcoming when I arrived from the USA that I immediately felt right at home.”
American pianist Evren Ozel has established himself as a musician of “refined restraint” (Third Coast Review), combining fluent virtuosity with probing, thoughtful interpretations. Having performed extensively in the United States and abroad, Evren is the recipient of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, 2022 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and is currently represented by Concert Artists Guild as an Ambassador Prize Winner of their 2021 Victor Elmaleh Competition.
Since his debut at age 11 with the Minnesota Orchestra, Evren has gone on to be a featured soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Boston POPS Orchestra, and The Orchestra Now at Bard College with conductors including Jahja Ling, Courtney Lewis, Keith Lockhart, and Leon Botstein. In the 2023-24 season, he will record Mozart Concertos with the Radio Symphonieorchester Wien and conductor Howard Griffiths for the Next Generation Mozart Soloists project based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Evren has performed solo recitals at important venues across the US, including The Gilmore’s Wellspring Theater, the Harvard Musical Association, and the Ordway. In 2021 he delivered an all-Chopin recital under a joint collaboration between the Schubert Club and Chopin Society of Minnesota, to critical acclaim. In the 2023-24 season, Evren looks forward to performing the last three Beethoven Sonatas in recital, as well as a recital debut in Boston’s Jordan Hall. He also performs solo during select duo recitals, including 2024 concerts for Newport Classical in Rhode Island, and People’s Symphony Concerts in New York.
An esteemed chamber musician, Evren has played at the Marlboro Music Festival and ChamberFest Cleveland, with artists such as Jonathan Biss, Franklin Cohen, Hsin-Yun Huang, Joseph Lin, Christoph Richter, Marcy Rosen and Peter Wiley. He has also performed on Musicians from Marlboro tours at venues like the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and New York’s Carnegie Hall. Most recently, he was selected as a Bowers Program Artist for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In the 2023-24 season, Evren will make his debuts at the Gardner Museum in Boston and the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. with violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux. He frequently collaborates with violinist Geneva Lewis, including concerts for Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Capital Region Classical, and Washington Performing Arts at the Kennedy Center.
Evren received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from the New England Conservatory, and is currently a candidate in their prestigious and highly-exclusive Artist Diploma program, all under the tutelage of Wha Kyung Byun. Other important mentors include Jonathan Biss, Imogen Cooper, Richard Goode, Dr. Sarah Miller, Tom Rosenberg, and Mitsuko Uchida.
The Imogen Cooper Music Trust was formed in 2015. Its primary mission is to offer gifted young musicians the opportunity to spend time in intensive study with the renowned concert pianist Imogen Cooper and other distinguished musicians.
Our study weeks offer young artists the time and space to uncover the profound depths of the music being studied. They are set in peaceful locations where the distractions of urban life are replaced by a thorough immersion in the performance of great music.
“The experiences I had of being intensively mentored by Alfred Brendel, Arthur Rubinstein and Clifford Curzon have never left me. Time seemed irrelevant, the sessions had no boundaries and the immersion in great works with those artists has resonated with me throughout my performing life. My great hope is that the Trust’s Scholarship Holders will benefit from one-to-one guidance at a critical time in their artistic development just as I did. “
Imogen Cooper
Artistic Director, Imogen Cooper Music Trust