Get to know us
Acting board
Our board of directors comprises a diverse group of experts hailing from various interdisciplinary fields, each bringing unique perspectives and insights. With backgrounds in music, design, architecture, film, and theatre, they collaborate to foster innovation and creativity within our organization. This rich tapestry of disciplines not only enhances our decision-making processes but also enriches our projects with a multifaceted approach.
Murat Ali Cengiz
Architect / composer
Prashant Samlal
Guitarist / Composer
Bart Soeters
Basist / Composer
Engin Özşahin
Engineer / COMPOSER
Murat Ali Cengiz
Originally from Istanbul/Turkey, Netherlands based Murat Ali Cengiz is a composer, pianist and architect. He exhibited with his collective: Automata at the fourth Istanbul Design Biennial, using design as a composition tool. He is the creator of the ongoing cross-disciplinary audio-visual project: “Musicographics”, exhibiting and performing at various locations such as, Kunsthal, Nieuwe Instituut, Muziekwerf, OMI, Bureau Europa and Rotterdam Architecture Month in the Netherlands.
Prashant Samlal
Prashant Samlal (1996) is a Dutch jazz guitarist, composer, and recording artist based in Amsterdam. With a strong musical personality and artistic vision he continually explores what it means to him to be a Jazz musician today. By writing his own music and working with many different artists, Prashant has always been on a path of developing his own distinct personal voice on the guitar in terms of virtuosity and sound.
Bart Soeters
Bart Soeters (1980) is bassist, composer and main subject teacher at the Utrecht Conservatory. He is known for his versatility: he collaborates with Floris Verbeij - with whom he released the album Morse. released on Challenge Records-, Kaz Lux, Fay Lovski, Izaline Calister, Cello Octet Amsterdam, O Tree, Born, Berget Lewis, Lori Lieberman, Thijs van Leer, Izak Boom, Souldada, Orgel Park Amsterdam, Het Nationale Toneel, Holland Opera and many others. The Bass Sounds videos that he produced together with Joris Holtackers were viewed several million times on YouTube. In 2021, Bart founded Lemon Sharks with Johan Olof and Joris Holtackers, a trio on the border between improvised and classical music.
Engin Özşahin
Engin Ozsahin, a musician and mechanical engineer from Istanbul, is a pianist and composer influenced by jazz and avant-garde traditions, including Thelonious Monk, Kenny Wheeler, and György Ligeti. A graduate of the New England Conservatory in Jazz Composition, he is now pursuing a master’s in Jazz Arranging at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Guided by a lifelong curiosity, Ozsahin’s music centers on discovery. His debut album, Sequence of Emotions (2020), features an ensemble he assembled in Boston, while his second album, Conversations in Chaos (2023), showcases his compositions and improvisations with a sextet from Istanbul.
