"[...] a dreamlike mosque saturated with crackling vinyl and the metallic aureoles of struck gongs."
"[SWAN's] foliage will flower long in your imagination."
- Chicago Reader
"[...] designed to convey an integration of elegance and power"
- The WIRE
"[...] a kind of techno psychodrama"
- Bandcamp Daily: The Best Contemporary Classical
"[Colak] moves between electronic and acoustic music with great agility’"
- BBC Radio 3
MURAT ÇOLAK
If you're interested in commissioning or collaborating with Murat, you can contact him below:
Born and raised in Eskisehir, Murat Çolak is a composer, producer, and audio engineer based in Manhattan. His work is immersive and luxe, it finds its home in the spirituality and poise of Turkish art music and in the hazy, hypnotic coils of dub techno and trance.
Murat has collaborated extensively with some of contemporary music's most prominent exponents, artists like Wet Ink, Ensemble Dal Niente, International Contemporary Ensemble, Distractfold, Ensemble Vertixe Sonora, Ensemble Surplus, Meitar Ensemble, and Scenatet. His work has been presented and supported by the BBC Radio 3, MATA Festival, New Music USA, the Yaddo Corporation, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Mise-en Festival, ISCM World New Music Days, Frequency Series Festival Chicago, Sonic Matter Festival, Avaloch Farms Music Institute and Festival of New American Music among others. Current projects include a shadowplay installation with percussionist/electronic performer Christian Smith and violinist Linda Jankowska, an audiovisual club anthem for the Berlin-based cellist Colin Stokes, and an evening-length multimedia work with the International Contemporary Ensemble.
Murat received his DMA in composition from Boston University along with the prestigious Esther B. Kahn Career Entry award, and he holds an MA in music composition and technology from Istanbul Technical University's Centre for Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM). He teaches music technology, production, and composition at Montclair State University, Kaufman Music Center, and the New York Philharmonic. He has been in residencies, given lectures and masterclasses at Harvard University, UC Berkeley, Columbia University, Simon Fraiser University, Pomona College, University of Baltimore, Kent State University, Bilkent University, and others.