On Stage
Viola & Conducting
A performance practice shaped by chamber, orchestral, contemporary, and electronic music.
Dr. Deniz Çağlarcan is a violist with more than 25 years of experience across solo, chamber, contemporary, and interdisciplinary performance. His playing is shaped by a deep conservatory background, a composer's ear for structure and sound, and a long-standing engagement with new music, extended techniques, and electroacoustic practice.
As a performer, he approaches the viola not only as a lyrical and expressive instrument, but also as a site of texture, gesture, resonance, and transformation.
He holds an M.M. in Viola Performance from Central Michigan University and has studied with Ani İnci, Sema Hakioğlu, Alicia Valoti, Sheila Browne, Scott Woolweaver, Yuri Gandelsman, Tatjana Masurenko, Walter Küssner, Hartmut Rohde, Alexander Zemtsov, Ulrich Mertin, and Christine Rutledge.
Recognition
- 20261st Prize, Golden Classical Music Awards, Carnegie Hall, New York
- 2024American Viola Society Festival, June 2024, Void performance
- 20202nd Place, Veha Chamichian String Competition, Central Michigan University
- 2013Finalist, Braunschweig Classical Open International Competition, Germany
Selected Performances
- Live electronicsKrzysztof Wołek, Shadowings for Viola and Live Electronics
- SoloDeniz Çağlarcan, Void for solo viola and electronics
- InstallationEngin Dağlık, Wunderkammer, site-specific 16+1 channel diffusion for flute, bassoon, trombone, viola, and light
- ConcertoBéla Bartók, Viola Concerto
- SoloKrzysztof Penderecki, Cadenza for Viola
- ChamberRobert Schumann, Märchenbilder, movements I and IV
- SonataFranz Schubert, Arpeggione Sonata
- SoloAlexander Glazunov, Élégie, Op. 44
Repertoire
- ConcertosBartók · Walton · Stamitz · Hoffmeister · Telemann · Handel · Vivaldi
- SonatasRebecca Clarke · Brahms (E-flat, F minor) · Vieuxtemps · Schubert · Mendelssohn · Milhaud
- Solo & SuitesPenderecki · Schumann · Reger · Bloch · Bruch · Shostakovich · Crumb · Glazunov · Bach
- ÉtudesPaganini (24 Caprices) · Kreutzer · Kayser · Campagnoli · Ševčík · Fuchs
- EnsembleLigeti · Shostakovich · Hosokawa · Dvořák · Borodin · Beethoven quartets
Watch
Deniz has pursued more than eight years of orchestral conducting study, with his deepest work at Central Michigan University under José-Luis Maúrtua. His background as both performer and composer informs his approach to the podium, where musical structure, sound balance, and physical gesture meet.
Equally at home leading contemporary chamber repertoire and shaping audio-visual work for immersive spaces, his conducting practice treats the score, the ensemble, the electronics, and the room as parts of a single instrument.
Focus
- RepertoireSymphonic and contemporary new music
- FormatOrchestra, chamber, mixed and electronics-integrated ensemble
Repertoire Conducted
- Rimsky-KorsakovScheherazade, movements II and III
- TchaikovskyNutcracker Suite: Arabian Dance, Dance of the Mirlitons, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
- HaydnSymphony No. 93 in D major (complete)
- BeethovenSymphony No. 7, first movement
Watch
ADE Duo, co-founded with pianist Dr. Adea Badivuku, is a two-instrumentalist project moving between cross-genre arrangements, contemporary repertoire, and intimate chamber collaboration.
The duo released a rendition of Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling in Love in 2021, bringing a personal chamber-music sensibility to a widely recognized song.
Selected
- 2022Someone Like You (Adele), recorded release
- 2021Can't Help Falling in Love (Elvis Presley), recorded release