Mahir Cetiz

The music of Mahir Cetiz is often characterized as atmospheric and deeply expressive, shaped by slow-unfolding forms, careful pacing, and immersive sound worlds that engage with memory, history, and continuity. Cetiz is an American-Turkish composer based in Memphis, Tennessee. His output includes orchestral, chamber, solo, electronic, film, and multimedia works, performed by leading musicians and ensembles and released across multiple platforms. His compositional interests draw on Middle Eastern and Indian musical traditions, medieval polyphony, and the perception of musical gesture, while engaging with broader themes such as physics, mythology, and multiculturality. An active performer as pianist, electronic musician, cellist, and conductor, Cetiz 
maintains a close connection to new-music performance, which informs both his creative work and his scholarly research in musical analysis and theories of musical affect and meaning. He completed advanced studies in Turkey, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and currently serves as Assistant Professor of Composition and Music Theory at the University of Memphis. His honors include the British Council’s Musician of the Year award and a Guggenheim Fellowship.