Yüksel Koptagel

Yüksel Koptagel (born 27 October 1931) is a Turkish composer and pianist. She was born in Istanbul, Turkey, granddaughter of General Osman Nuri Koptagel, a commander in the Turkish War of Independence. Her maternal great grandfather Abdul Karim Khan Tareen, a physician, had migrated from Multan, British India (now Pakistan) and had settled in Istanbul, adopting the name Abdul Karim Bey. Her father Baha Koptagel was a dentist and her mother Hikmet Koptagel was a teacher. Yüksel was brought up in a musical environment at home. She started playing the piano with Rana Erksan at five years old. From 1948 to 1955 she studied piano, harmony, counterpoint and fugue under composer and conductor Cemal Reşit Rey. Koptagel gave concerts with Istanbul Municipal Orchestra between the years 1951 to 1954. In 1955 she went to Spain on a grant from the Spanish government. She studied in the Madrid Royal Conservatory with José Cubiles, Joaquin Rodrigo. In 1957 she was accepted to the Conservatoire de Paris where she worked with Tony Aubin, Alexandre Tansman, and Lazare Levy. Invited by the Ministry of Culture in Spain, she attended a number of courses in the city of Santiago de Compostela and worked