World premiere: "Durak" by Zeynep Gedizlioglu

Deutsche Welle presents "Durak" as part of the Orchestra Campus project, which is co-sponsored by DW and the Beethovenfest Bonn. The Istanbul University State Symphony Orchestra will premiere the commissioned piece under conductor Ramiz Malik Aslanov.

Of her composition, Zeynep Gedizlioglu said, "The Turkish word 'Durak' can have one or several meanings. It can mean caesura, station, stop, pause or, in Turkish classical music, tonic. For me, this word has a lot to do with the perception of temporality; a temporality that relates to the present; a 'now' whose power extends back into the past and constantly recreates suspense for what's ahead. Durak is a caesura, a word, a pause, a waiting room. It's not an end - it has no end. The path continues endlessly."

The musicians who will perform the work range from ages 18 to 25. Ramiz Malik Aslanov has served as creative director of the Istanbul University State Symphony Orchestra since 1996. A recording of the concert on October 3 will be made available as a podcast at dw.de/beethoven and as a CD recording. Deutsche Welle's partner stations in Turkey, Latin America, Russia and the US will also broadcast the concert.

The composer

Zeynep Gedizlioglu, born in Izmir in 1977, studied composition under Cengiz Tanc in Istanbul, Theo Brandmüller in Saarbrücken, Ivan Fedele in Strasbourg and Wolfgang Rihm in Karlsruhe, as well as music theory under Michael Reudenbach. From 2010 to 2011, she worked at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris. In 2012, she won the Composers' Prize from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. She lives in Berlin.

The commission

This year marks the 13th time Deutsche Welle has commissioned such a musical work. The assignments are offered to young composers from the partner countries chosen by Deutsche Welle and the Beethovenfest Bonn for the Orchestra Campus project. Since 2000, 12 youth orchestras from DW's target regions have been hosted in Bonn. Partner countries so far have included China, Georgia, Poland, Ukraine, South Africa and Egypt, Russia and Vietnam, Brazil and Iraq.

"Journalistic content for people around the world - that's the mission DW has fulfilled for 60 years," said Adelheid Feilcke, head of DW's culture department.

"Culture, as a key to fostering mutual understanding, is an essential element in our mission. Culture reveals what shapes and has shaped people. The Turkish composer and German resident Zeynep Gedizlioglu stands for building cultural bridges through the universal language of music. DW will present this vivid case of German-Turkish dialogue to the world through multimedia programming," Feilcke commented.

Culture helps shape perceptions and fosters understanding among people. As Germany's international broadcaster, DW acts as a media partner at key cultural events - such as the Berlin Film Festival, the Venice Biennale and the Beethovenfest Bonn. As the Beethovenfest's premium media partner, DW is offering access to the event to users around the world via dw.de/beethoven, which features audio content in German, Turkish, English and additional languages, as well as via television in German, English, Arabic and Spanish.