Rice University presents Performing Asia - Music of Turkey with Hoppa Project, a Turkish music festival. The main events of the festival will take place September 15-16 and will include two concerts. Lectures will also be held August 31-September 16. The festival will feature music from the Ottoman Empire, Folk Music, and contemporary music of Turkey.

Preceding the festival, a library exhibition featuring Turkish music scores and instruments will be held at Fondren Library starting on August 26 and will be open to the public through the end of September.

Music will be performed by Hoppa Project, an ensemble dedicated to promoting music of Eastern Europe and the Middle East, with guest artists clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski and pianist Ayşe Taşpınar. The events will also include premieres by composers Kamran İnce, Önder Özkoç, and Erberk Eryılmaz.

There will be several lectures on Turkish music history and other aspects that surround the music of Turkey, such as Ataturk’s cultural contributions, Turkish history, and Rumi and religion. Speakers will include Dr. David Cook and Dr. Melissa Marschall, Rice University, Dr. Cengiz Şişman, University of Houston Clear Lake, Dr. Kamran İnce, University of Memphis, and Dr. Ayşe Taşpınar.

Schedule of events

• August 31: Dr. Cengiz Şişman: The Last Empire: The Fall of the Ottomans and the Rise of the Turkish Republic
• September 7: Erberk Eryılmaz: Introduction to Turkish Music
• September 14: David Cook: Rumi and Sufism
• September 15: Kamran İnce: The works and career of Turkish composer Kamran İnce (2 pm) and Turkish Music of the Past (6:30 pm at Asia Society Texas)
• September 16: Melissa Marschall: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the development of the Turkish Republic and his state building project (1 pm), Erberk Eryılmaz: Introduction to Turkey’s recent generations of composers (2 pm), and Turkish Music Now (8 pm)