Musician in Residence Osman Kivrak will celebrate his 20-year anniversary at AU this weekend with a performance Friday night at the Katzen Arts Center. The idea for the concert came from his colleague, Nancy Jo Sneider, the Music Programs Director in the Department of Performing Arts, who describes Kivrak as "one of the most creative artists I have ever met. He is a treasure, and we are so lucky to have him."
"When I first came to AU, he told me I played the viola as if I were playing football," John Harrison, a former student and AU alumnus, said. "I have since remedied that problem, and Osman was the cure. He has the ability to teach the unteachable."
This praise is no surprise given that Kivrak has devoted his life to music. His first instrument was the mandolin, but almost 40 years ago his older brother convinced him to switch to the viola, and Kivrak found something he loved.
Kivrak said AU has changed a lot since he came to the campus 20 years ago, especially since the construction of the Katzen Arts Center.
"I think putting together the various departments of a fine arts school in the same building increased the interaction between them," Kivrak said. "An artist who is drawing a violin will have more insight about it because they will be seeing it; they will be hearing it. A pianist will be more inspired to play a Debussy piece when they walk by a beautiful impressionistic painting."
Kivrak said that he loves teaching almost as much as he loves playing.
"My favorite part of teaching is the seeing the difference I intended to make in the playing of my students occur," he said.
"Osman was the best teacher I have ever had, in any subject," Katherine Littlefield, a former student and AU alumna, said. "While past teachers were always bogged down with the technical corrections, his approach is more focused on the music you are making. It was so refreshing, but also enabled me to become a much better musician because I was having fun instead of worrying about minute details."
A native of Turkey, Kivrak came to the United States in 1977 when he received a scholarship from the Turkish government to study abroad. He chose Catholic University.
"America was one of the few countries that offered master's and doctorate degrees in viola performance, and I always wanted to see the U.S.," Kivrak said.
Kivrak quickly built a life in the United States. He formed the Sunrise Quartet in 1991 with his wife, violinist Teri Lazar. The Sunrise Quartet has recorded for at least three labels and has received critical acclaim. It has also been featured on public radio and cable television performances.
Kivrak also began composing in 1997, when computers became more prevalent.
"I always wanted to compose," Kivrak said. "I always had a lot of ideas, but by the time I wrote down the first phrase, I would forget what I wanted to say next. Computers made it easy for me to not only just write down any ideas fast and store them for a later use, they also allowed me to instantly hear what I had written and modify them."
Yet perhaps the most interesting recordings Kivrak has done were with the rock band Thrice on its "Artist in an Ambulance" album.
"I don't remember much about their music, but I remember meeting some of the band members and liking them," Kivrak said.
He points out that he often does work that is not traditional classical performance.
"As a freelancer, I have played in all sorts of settings - rock albums, commercials, radio and TV shows," Kivrak said. "One of my favorites was when I played at a club with a rock singer friend, Boris Skalsky, where I could perform in jeans and get a standing ovation."
The upcoming show this Friday is a little more standard, including some of Kivrak's original compositions, as well as work by Brahms and Bart¢k, who Kivrak said are two of his favorite composers.
Two of the pieces he will perform were compositions submitted for a competition in 1919. The work that won is by Ernest Bloch and the runner up was by a female composer, Rebecca Clarke.
"It was controversial that Bloch was the winner of the competition, and it would be interesting to have them both performed in one program," Kivrak said. "I still can't decide which one I like better, and I will have a great time listening to the audience reaction."
Kivrak's Katzen performance is on Feb. 2 at 8 p.m. Tickets for the performance can be purchased online through the Katzen Arts Center's Web site, www.american.edu/katzen.
