The Greek National Opera is set to present the world premiere of Kamran Ince’s “Jus soli” on March 13, 2022.

The oratorio, which was composed by Turkish-American composer Kamran Ince and librettist Izzeddin Calislar, is a tribute to the 2021 bicentennial of the Greek Revolution from the perspective of the modern-day descendents of the Ottoman Empire.

The work will be conducted Mitlos Logiadis and will feature video projects by Istanbul-based company Nohlab.

“I grew up with Turkey’s duality, triality, and quadality. Turks may be thought of as coming from central Asia, but the Anatolian Turks, by the 21st century, had mixed so much with the people and cultures of the lands they inherited that it is really difficult to say where we are from with certainty. I developed an affinity for Byzantium, Greek, Armenian, and Jewish culture in addition to, of course, the Ottoman and the Turkish cultures. Music, architecture, and the spiritual sides of the religions of the land are of great importance to my creative world. ‘Jus soli’ gave me a chance to live and express this one more time, perhaps this time in a more confrontational, controversial setting, feeling the drama and the trauma,” Ince said in an official statement. “The music can be at times passionate, searching, spiritual, strong, weak, traumatized, mad, with love, with hate, defeated, or victorious with much melancholy. One of my greatest loves in art is contrasts. In my music, I create these contrasts with vertical or horizontal juxtapositions of the cultural ingredients at my disposal. These can even be actual quotes at times and Jus soli has a few. Western and American ingredients must be added to the list, after all, it is a part of who I am with my Turkish and American parents.”