I have been making music for films, modern dance, commercials and other media since 1991.

My music is a mixture of electronic ambient and chamber music. Think of Philip Glass, Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream all playing together.

My most recent success was the soundtrack for the award-winning documentary film "Beyond Belief" which premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Please visit my website for complete details. www.evrencelimli.com

Biography

BIOGRAPHY

“Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky were my playmates in the womb,” says composer Evren Celimli. “My mother played music for me during her pregnancy by placing headphones on her belly.” It is no wonder that music came naturally to him as a child. He learned the recorder at age 5 and began violin lessons at 8. At 11 years old Evren attended the New England Conservatory of Music for theory, composition and piano lessons.
In high school Evren loved jazz and switched to a 5-string electric violin. Evren recounts that it was in high school that he “made the conscious decision to be a composer.” He composed for his high school jazz band, the school chorus, and he wrote a chamber orchestra piece for Boston University’s High School Composer’s Workshop. As a senior, he received the Harvard Musical Association’s Award for Achievement.
Evren received his Bachelor’s degree in music from Brandeis University where he was introduced to a Buchla Modular Synthesizer and learned to splice analog tape. He got his first taste for collaboration by writing the score for the short film "Eugenia's Crown" which premiered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and played at the Louvre in Paris. He earned his Masters degree in Music Composition at the University Of Sussex in the U.K. and after graduation his compositions were performed at new music festivals both in the United States and Europe.
In 1996 Evren moved to New York City because he, “wanted to work with other artists, to collaborate on multi-disciplinary projects.” When he got to NYC, says Evren, “I found myself in the scruffy under belly of the downtown avant-garde dance and theater world.” He composed and designed sound for 15 productions over a 3-year period including 2 Richard Foreman plays, a wild production of Euripides’ “The Trojan Women,” and a dance/theatre piece that was performed at the Here Theater / American Living Room Festival. His first collaboration with choreographer Doug Elkins premiered at the Joyce Theater in NYC and traveled to Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and the Teatro Gustavo Modena in Italy. His “Movement Mandalas,” an ongoing series of meditational dance pieces were performed at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C.
Along with composing for dance and theater Evren worked with a few commercial music houses including Machine Head, Sweet Potato Music and Hot House Music and Sound Design. His music was used for an award winning Ogilvy television commercial for TIAA Cref and by haute couture designer Morgane Le Fay. Evren also produced for several independent record labels and did remix work for Arista and Sony Germany.
In 2003 Evren completed his first ballet, “The New Rome,” a commission from Guggenheim award winning choreographer Leigh Witchel. This year Evren was awarded a New England Foundation for the Arts / National Dance Project production grant with choreographer Ben Munisteri. Their new collaboration, “Thunderblood,” will premiere at Jacob’s Pillow in July 2005. Evren is also working on a commission from the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. He is composing a piece for the unveiling of a massive art installation at the Charlestown Navy Yard, also in July of 2005.

Press Clips

WQXR Radio – May 7, 2005
Review by Francis Mason
Murray Spalding, “Movement Mandalas”
“The loveliest dance I’ve seen in many a moon… the way (the) dancers moved to the music of Evren Celimli created a wondrous sense of now and forever.”

The New York Times – April 30, 2005
Review by Jennifer Dunning
Murray Spalding, “Movement Mandalas”
“The effect of Ms. Spalding's well-worked designs was enhanced by Evren Celimli's subtly gradated score of drums, drones and hums.”

The Dance View Times, New York Edition – September 19, 2003
Review by Mindy Aloff
Dance As Ever, “The New Rome”
“a newly commissioned – and fascinatingly irascible – score for a string quartet, by Evren Celimli, …”

The Village Voice - October 2003
Review by Adele Nickel
Dance As Ever, "The New Rome"
"A splendidly abstract commissioned score by Evren Celimli was a perfect mate for Witchel's choreography..."

showbusinessweekly.com - March 2002
Review by Sophia Ernst
Murray Spalding, "Movement Mandalas"
"Evren Celimli’s haunting score of droning, spacey, rhythmic music matched the energy of each Mandala, never overpowering."

New York Times — February 1, 2000
Review by Jack Anderson
Ben Munisteri, “Lust Is a Pig”
“The music was lush and it inspired big broad movements that left the cast looking happily dazed at the end.”

Show Business — March 31, 1999
Review by Jayne Lawson
Ben Munisteri, “Smash Through to Sunlight”
“Evren Celimli compiled a wonderfully textured and highly integrated score.”

alt.arts.ballet – July 7, 1998
Review by Leigh Witchel
Doug Elkins Dance Company, “Philenor”
“The score... references both the classical construction of baroque music and the kitsch of early synthesizer scores from the 1970s, only with a skip in the record or feedback from a disconnected wire.”

Time Out New York — June 25, 1998
Review by Gia Kourlas
Doug Elkins Dance Company, “Bipolarbear NOS”
“...Bipolar is set to a wonderful, abstract sound score by the young composer Evren Celimli.”

Backstage — November 8, 1997
Review by Eric Grode
Tanya Kane-Parry, “The Trojan Women”
“Evren Celimli’s everpresent score adds immeasurably to the evening...”