Drake Mabry

Drake Mabry, born January 20, 1950 in Iowa City, composer, neyzen and ebru artist, comes from a family of painters. He began his artistic career as an oboist in symphony orchestras, before moving to tenor saxophone, flute and clarinet playing in big bands and jazz ensembles. Since the 1980’s, painting, photography and poetry came into his artistic focus. He learned Ebru with Ayla Makas in Istanbul and Chinese ink painting with Chang Yang in San Diego. His poems have been set to music by composers and used by theater groups for improvisation. Drakedonius, a book with bilingual poems, paintings and photographs, was published by Le Plac'Art in France in 2011. In 2014, he will publish his latest Ebru art as an ebook.

Mabry studied oboe at the Juilliard School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music with Harold Gomberg. He continued his education in 1976 with the study of composition at Rice University with Paul Cooper and later at the University of California, San Diego with Will Ogdon from which he graduated with his doctorate. He continued his composition studies with Krzysztof Penderecki and John Cage. His compositions have been performed worldwide and recorded and released in the U.S. and in Europe.

From 1971 he worked as principal oboist in various orchestras in the United States, Canada and Great Britain. From 1975 to 1978 he played the saxophone, flute and clarinet in the Aspen Music Festival Big Band and led his own jazz quintet. Since 1978 he focused his activity on composition and improvisation. In 1988, he moved to France, where he was head of a music school in Poitiers from 1999 to 2006. In addition, he taught, among others at the University of Strasbourg, University of Rennes and the University of Poitiers.

He studied the traditional Turkish Ney flute in Istanbul with Burcu Karadag at the Caferağa Medresseh and later with Ismail Hakki. Mabry is one of the few Ney players who also plays contemporary music and jazz. In these styles, he has composed several works for the instrument. The ensemble TWO with Maria Dorner-Hofmann was founded in 2012 after a chance encounter at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Both artists found the idea of combining the European recorder with the Turkish Ney very appealing. They investigated and experimented how these two instruments could be brought together to play music from different musical cultures. It was decided to focus on medieval music, works written especially for them, and Bulgarian and Turkish music.

Compositions (selection)

 * Silent Durations XLVIII for Turkish Ney, 2013
 * Silent Durations XLVII for bass recorder and Turkish Ney, 2013
 * Istanbul Prelude for tape (electro-trance ), 2012
 * Silent Durations XLVI for bass recorder, 2012
 * Five Meditations on Agnus Dei for mixed choir (SATB ), 2011
 * Silent Durations XXIX for double bass solo, 2009
 * Prelude and Tango for symphony orchestra, 2009
 * Duo for Bassoon and Piano, 2008
 * 15 Meditations for Piano, 2007
 * Silent Durations XXI for solo cello, 2007
 * 6 Meditations for Piano, 2007
 * Silent Durations I- XXIII for a variety of instrumentations, 2003-2007
 * Silent Durations I for piano, 2003
 * Lamentations for string orchestra, 2003
 * Silent Durations VIII for large orchestra, 2003
 * 15.12.89 (Concerto for soprano saxophone and chamber orchestra ), 1989
 * M ( for jazz ensemble and computer ), 1989
 * Elegy for Wind Orchestra, 1980
 * Quintet for five double basses, 1978
 * Aspen p.m. for chamber orchestra, 1978
 * String Quartet No. 2, 1977
 * Laudate Dominum for string orchestra, 1976