Every concert by award-winning Hezarfen Ensemble is an adventure.  Internationally recognized for its performances of contemporary and transcultural music, it is above all the energy and vitality of this Istanbul-based group which has brought Hezarfen Ensemble increasingly widespread recognition. With signature projects ranging from trio (Word and Sound) to interdisciplinary chamber opera (Binboğalar Efsanesi,Deniz Küstü, Say I am You) and Music of Displacement, the impact of Hezarfen Ensemble on music in Turkey has been profound, changing the face of contemporary music in its home country, while the infectious energy of its performances has brought acclaim for the ensemble in its appearances at festivals across Europe.   Key performances abroad have included MärzMusik Festival Berlin,  Rotterdam Operadagen, Bristol new Music Days, the Divan project, Klangzeit Festival Münster, Essen Cultural Capital, German Historical Institut Rome, Trieste Prima festival.  At home, Hezarfen regularly appears at the Istanbul Music Festival, Borusan Music House, Arter Museum, BAUART & Yapı Kredi, Akbank Sanat, Boğaziçi University, Hezarfen Bilkent Academy and New Music Days, Saygun Centre Izmir, Institut Francais and collaborates regularly with Goethe Institut Istanbul, Italian, Netherlands and Austrian Cultural Centres.

The ensemble has been collaborating with the Goethe-Institut Istanbul and the Kulturakademie Tarabya, a federal german artists' residency in Istanbul since 2012. In 2021, the ensemble was invited by the Donaueschinger Musiktage to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the festival with a concert at the ARTER Museum (Istanbul), in cooperation with Donaueschinger Musiktage and Goethe Institute Istanbul. In May 2022, the ensemble made its UK debut, with seven new composition commissions for a programme of makam instruments at the Bristol New Music Festival, recorded by BBC Radio 3. This was followed in June 2023 by the world premiere of Bin Boğalar Efsanesi (The Legend of a Thousand Bulls), Michael Ellison's new opera based on the novel by Yaşar Kemal, the culmination of his groundbreaking research project Beyond East and West: Developing and Documenting an Evolving Transcultural Musical Practice - a 5-year research project funded by the European Research Council on the integration of traditional instruments into a new music ensemble. This project systematises the practical processes essential to the creation of a new, East-West strand of contemporary music and opera. Its tripartite approach - workshop, ethnography, theory - combined with public events provides a new model for transcultural practice while opening a door for the world to a deeper understanding of the exquisite musical traditions of Turkey and the Middle East. In July 2024 the Ensemble will make its Sweden debut at the Kontinent Dalsland Festival, with its program Recollection of Displacement - with the friendly support of Ernst-von-Siemens Music Foundation.