Murat Ali Cengiz collective is a chamber music project to fuse Turkish rhythms with western harmonic

structures. As an ongoing project, the collective has been involving many different international musicians
and band settings since 2014.
The music is based on the dance rhythms of the post-Ottoman geography and the isochrony (rhythm of a
language) of the spoken Turkish language. Besides that, the composer Murat Ali Cengiz is also borrowing
the polytonal elements of Bartok’s and Stravinsky’s music and tetra and penta-chordal elements of Turkish
makam music. The collective is an attempt to bring all these elements together, in different band settings in
an improvised chamber music environment.
Starting with core member, composer and pianist Murat Ali Cengiz (Turkey, piano) the collective currently
consists of: Giuseppe Doronzo (Italy) on baritone saxophone and George Dumitriu (Romania) on guitar
and viola. Not to forget the many others that has also performed and were involved in the collective; Andrea
Caruso (Italy, Double bass), Jaemin Lee (South Korea, tablas – drums), Daniel Juárez (Spain, Tenor
Saxophone), Yongheng Wu (China, drums), Johannes Fend (Austria, double bass), Esat Ekincioğlu
(Turkey, double bass), Hannes Dunker (Germany, drums), Edwin van der Wolf (Netherlands, Classical
Percussions), Adnan Dura (Turkey, Alto saxophone), Vladislav Psaruk (Russia, Trombone), Mikel
Urretagoiena (Spain, Drums) Adele Sauros (Finland, Tenor Saxohpone), Steve Altenberg (USA, drums).
Murat Ali Cengiz

Murat Ali Cengiz is a pianist of diverse backgrounds. Originally from Istanbul/Turkey, he has worked as an
architect in Istanbul and then moved to the Netherlands, first to Groningen and then Utrecht to pursue his
musical career.
As a pianist he’s regularly involved in composing for a good variety of different music. He’s the composer
and pianist for various groups playing contemporary jazz, contemporary classical music and world music.
He’s been the founder and the leader of the Murat Ali Cengiz Collective, a chamber music project that
progressively transforms into different band settings and includes a good variety of band members and
unusual instruments.
He has studied jazz with Marc van Roon, David Berkman and had the opportunity to meet and learn Turkish
makam music from the guru Necdet Varol. He has also been a guest teacher and a research assistant at
the Prins Claus Conservatorium, Groningen.

George Dumitriu

Active as a performer and composer in the field of jazz/improvised music, the Romanian musician George
Dumitriu plays guitar, viola and violin with the enrichment of live laptop electronics. Coming from a classical
music background, he studied in Bucharest, Groningen, Amsterdam and New York. He worked with artists
such as Ambrose Akinmusire, Peter Herbolzheimer, Benny Golson, Theo Loevendie, Dick Oatts. Guest
guitar teacher at the Conservatorium of Amsterdam and Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen, he
performs internationally with a variety of projects (Kaja Draksler Octet, Sanem Kalfa, Hidden Myth, I/O,
Steven Kamperman Trio) and leading his group DUMItRIO.

Giuseppe Doronzo

Giuseppe Doronzo focuses his research on the baritone saxophone, exploring a vocabulary that blends his
background fields, going through contemporary classical music and jazz improvisation. He's based in
Amsterdam and working with stable projects like Solo, Falga, AVA, Michael Moore Bigtet, All Ellington, XP7.
He performed with a wide spectrum of creative musicians including Michael Moore, Joe Lovano, Vince
Mendoza, Mariem Hassan, Chris Potter, Paolo Fresu, Matt Wilson, Taylor Ho Bynum, Steve Potts, Ralph
Alessi, Lothar Sthal, Irene Aebi Lacy, Han Bennink.