Turkey on Music Theory Print

Alberto Hemsi

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Alberto Hemsi (27 June 1898 – 8 October 1975) was a composer of the 20th century classical era. His work in the field of ethnomusicology and integration of Sephardic melodies has been noted as parallel to Béla Bartók’s collection of traditional Hungarian music and consequent integration to his music. Life Family and early years Hemsi was born in 1898 in Turgutlu in the Ottoman Empire to a family of Sephardic Jews. From an early age, Alberto’s parents detected a keen sensitivity and interest in music, especially during prayers sung in synagogue, and decided to send him to stay with his uncle in Smyrne (now Izmir). Hemsi studied at the school of the Alliance Israélite Universelle (A.I.U.) from 1908 to 1913. At the A.I.U., he studied flute, trombone, cornet, and the clarinet, but his true passions were for the piano and for composition. 1913-1919: Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Verdi In 1913, at the insistence of the director of the A.I.U., Hemsi moved to Italy after receiving a scholarship to study at the Conservatorio Royal di Milano. At the conservatorio, Hemsi was taught by internationally acclaimed professors such as Bossi Pirinello (composition, harmony, and counterpoint), Gal

Ali Darmar

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Ali Cemal Darmar (born May 13, 1946) is a Turkish pianist and composer. He studied piano with Verda Un at the Istanbul Conservatory and privately Ferdi Statzer, Popi Mihailides in his early years. Later he became a private student of Ayşegül Sarıca. He has a degree in Pharmacy. In 1974 he moved to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger and Annette Dieudonne privately, when he was also a registered student in Alfred Cortot’s Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, where he studied with Germaine Mounier, Monique Deschaussées and Cécille de Brunhoff. Darmar had scholarships from UNESCO (1976) and the French government (1981). He graduated from the composition department of the Rueil-Malmaison Conservatory, under the direction of Francine Aubin, then got another degree in composition from Jacques Castérède’s class in the Ecole Normale De Musique. He came back to Istanbul in 1987 and became a piano teacher. He taught at Bilkent University from 1990 to 2000, and later at YTU Art and Design Faculty, until he retired in 2014. Darmar was encouraged to compose by his piano teacher, Ferdi Statzer. One of his first compositions, “Aşkın Elinden”, for piano and soprano, was performed by Suna Korat in 19

Aydın Esen

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Aydın Esen (born 1962) is a Turkish jazz musician who plays keyboards and electronics. Career The son of a trumpeter, Esen began music lessons at the age of five in Turkey and attended a music conservatory, continuing for 13 years. His background was in classical music although he also enjoyed playing drums. At the age of ten, he began sneaking out of school to play with other musicians and as a teenager he led several groups in a variety of styles. Esen first came to the United States when he was awarded a four-year scholarship to Berklee College of Music where he reportedly completed all of his classes within one year. After studying at the New England Conservatory of Music and Juilliard, he had opportunities to play with Gary Burton, Eddie Gomez, Pat Metheny and Emily Remler. in 1989, he won the 1st prize at the Martial Solal Piano Competition in Paris. He has worked with Dave Liebman and Wolfgang Muthspiel. His composition “scape-X” (commissioned by Big Basel Festival) was premiered by the Ensemble Phoenix Basel with him as a soloist at the Big Basel Festival in January 2020. Discography As leader * Pictures (Bellaphon, 1989) * So Many Lifetimes (JMS, 1989) * Aydin Esen (JMS, 1

Batu Sener

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Batu Sener is a Turkish composer, orchestrator, and arranger based in Los Angeles. Sener is known for his work on the Ice Age franchise, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and Better Man. He actively works alongside Oscar-nominated composer John Powell and has written additional music for films including Pan, Jason Bourne, Ferdinand, Solo: A Star Wars Story, as well as How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Migration and most recently Wicked and the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon. His recent works include the studio album Lugano Impressions, an a cappella choir single titled ‘LII Dies Tenebrarum,’ and the score for the film Better Man, which earned him his AACTA Award for Best Original Music Score. He was a nominee for Breakthrough Composer of the Year in 2022 at IFMCA Awards. Early life and education From the age of 3, he trained as a pianist for 17 years at Bilkent University Faculty of Music and Performance Arts and Anadolu University State Conservatory before moving to the United States to study film scoring at Berklee College of Music and composition at Columbia College Chicago. Once in Los Angeles, he met John Powell and has been his collaborator on every sing

Bilge Özgen

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Bilge Özgen (born in Viranşehir, Turkey in 1935) is a Turkish composer and lyricist. Özgen graduated from Ankara Boys’ Senior Technical School of Teaching in 1959. He received his first music instruction from his father Sabri Özgen, an amateur musician. Özgen met Vedia Tunççekiç and Erol Sayan while he was a student in Ankara, a period which he calls his “second period in music”. He worked as an instrument builder for a while, and retired in 2000 from his job as a lute performer at Istanbul Radio. Özgen was encouraged as a composer by Alaeddin Yavaşça, Niyazi Sayın, Yılmaz Pakalınlar and Mustafa Erses. A composer of memorable works, Özgen has produced more than 300 pieces. See also * List of composers of classical Turkish music References

Cem Adrian

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Cem Filiz (born 30 November 1980), better known by his stage name Cem Adrian, is a Turkish musician of Bosniak descent, singer-songwriter and record producer. Early life His father was a merchant, while his mother was a housewife. Adrian was born to a family from Bosnia in Edirne, as the second child of his parents. His real name is Cem Filiz. Adrian chose his stage name after Adrianople, the name of Edirne in ancient times. He later met Fazıl Say through Demet Sağıroğlu, and with Say’s invitation, he enrolled in Bilkent University’s Department of Performing Arts. Career Career beginnings In 2003, he worked as a soloist and dancer for the group Mystica. In February 2005, he released his first album, Ben Bu Şarkıyı Sana Yazdım. This album includes the songs which Adrian had recorded by himself between 1997 and 2003 in Edirne. In January 2006, he started working on his second self-produced album. Aşk Bu Gece Şehri Terk Etti, which contained 13 songs written by himself, was released in December 2006. Artists Umay Umay, Denizhan and Suicide were featured on three of the album’s songs. In 2008 he released two albums, Seçkiler (Essentials) and Emir, and produced the music for Abdullah Oğ

Ertuğrul Oğuz Fırat

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Ertuğrul Oğuz Fırat (1 February 1923 in Malatya – 16 October 2014 in Ankara) was a Turkish composer, painter and poet. Fırat graduated from Istanbul University with a degree in law in 1948 and held a career as a judge until his retirement in 1979. All through his life, Fırat was involved in the arts: music, writing, painting. He began to compose music and write his first poems and stories in the early 1940s, and took up painting in 1960. Selected works Several Fırat scores are published by Seesaw Music. ;Stage * Cambot Ardışı, Ballet Suite for chamber ensemble, Op. 7 (1956) * Anadolu’da Çırakman Ateşleri, Ballet Suite No. 1 for orchestra, Op. 41 (1970–1975) * Anadolu’da Çırakman Ateşleri, Ballet Suite No. 2 for mixed chorus and orchestra, Op. 47 (1979) * Gerçek Simge Oyun (Reality, Symbol, Genre), Multimedia Ballet for narrator, chorus, instrumental ensemble (flute, 2 cellos, 2 pianos), and dancers, Op. 53 (1977–1978) ;Orchestra * Orkestra Konçertosu No. 1 (Concerto for Orchestra No. 1), Op. 16 (1962–1963) * Anısal Kaynaklar No. 1 (Memorial Sources No. 1), Concerto Grosso, Op. 19 (1964) * Üç Dans (3 Dances), Op. 20 (1947–1965, revised 1986) * Karpuz Yiyen Eşek, Op. 21 (1965, revise

Fahir Atakoğlu

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Mustafa Fahir Atakoğlu (, born 28 January 1963) is a Turkish American pianist and composer who has worked with a wide range of artists across many genres of music, ranging in style from symphonic scoring to advertising jingles. He was born in Istanbul, Turkey. Early life From the age of 7, Atakoğlu was interested in music and began playing piano and drums. Though his family intended for him to continue in the family business, his mother fostered his interest in music and through his music teacher Muzaffer Uz he was introduced to Cemal Reşit Rey, Turkey’s famous composer, pianist, script writer, and conductor. Atakoğlu studied under Rey from 1977 to 1979. He attended the Istanbul State Conservatory from 1978 to 1980. In 1980 he moved to London and for five years studied at both the London School of Music and Croydon College. He earned a degree in marketing and advertising from Croydon College in 1983 and returned to Istanbul to work as a jingle composer in the advertising sector. Career From 1987 to present, Atakoğlu has created music for commercials, news segments, and documentaries via advertising agencies including Lintas, McCann Erickson, CDP Europe, Young & Rubicam, Saatchi & S

Fazıl Say

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Fazıl Say (; born 14 January 1970) is a Turkish classical concert pianist and composer. He is known to often play his own compositions in his concerts, on top of a repertoire that includes Beethoven, Chopin, Bach and Mozart (with Say’s own cadenzas). Life and career Say was born in Ankara in 1970. His father, Ahmet Say, was an author and musicologist. His mother, Gürgün Say, was a pharmacist. His grandfather Fazıl Say, whose name he shares, was a member of the Spartakusbund. Say was a child prodigy, who was able to do basic arithmetic with 4-digit numbers at the age of two. His father, having found out that he was playing the melody of “Daha Dün Annemizin” (Turkish version of Ah! vous dirai-je, maman) on a makeshift flute with no prior training, enlisted the help of Ali Kemal Kaya, an oboist and family friend. At the age of three, Say started his piano lessons under the tutelage of pianist Mithat Fenmen. Say wrote his first piece, a piano sonata, in 1984, at the age of fourteen, when he was a student at the Ankara State Conservatory. It was followed, in this early phase of his development, by several chamber works without an opus number, including Schwarze Hymnen for violin and pia

Füsun Köksal

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Füsun Köksal (born 1973) is a Turkish composer of contemporary classical music. Köksal was born and grew up in Bursa, Turkey and attended Bilkent University’s Faculty of Music and Performing Arts in Ankara from 1989 to 1996, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in music theory and composition, studying under the supervision of Bujor Hoinic. From 1996 to 2002 she lived in Cologne, Germany, where she studied composition with Krzysztof Meyer and theory with Johannes Schild, earning a Diplom Musikerin from the Hochschule für Musik Köln. In 2002 she returned to Bilkent University, where she taught composition for three years. In 2004, she matriculated into the doctoral program at the University of Chicago, where she has studied with Marta Ptaszynska and Shulamit Ran. For the 2010–11 academic year she was Visiting Professor of Theory and Composition at the University of Pittsburgh. Her compositions have been performed worldwide by notable ensembles including the Ensemble Modern Academy, Ensemble Calliopée, Penderecki String Quartet, Arditti String Quartet, Pacifica Quartet, Eighthblackbird and Hezarfen Ensemble of Istanbul. Her oeuvre ranges from solo to orchestral works and is informe

İlhan Baran

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İlhan Baran (1934, Artvin – 27 November 2016) was a Turkish composer. Baran studied double bass and was a composition student of Ahmed Adnan Saygun at Ankara State Conservatory, graduating in 1960. He continued his studies in France at École Normale de Musique de Paris with Henri Dutilleux and Maurice Ohana. After returning to Turkey, he taught composition at the Ankara State Conservatory from 1964 to 2000. Selected works ;Orchestra * Töresel Çeşitlemeler (Modal Variations) (1980) ;Chamber music * Bir Bölümlü Sonatina (Sonatina in One Movement) for violin (or viola, or cello) and piano (1965) * Yaylı Çalgılar Dördülü (String Quartet) * Demet (Miracles) for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon (1966–1967) * Dönüşümler (Transformations) for violin, cello and piano (1975) * Uygulamalar (Applications), Volumes I & II for double bass and piano * Dört Zeybek (4 Zeybek Dances) for double bass and piano * Dört Parça (4 Pieces) for 2 flutes ;Keyboard * Çocuk Parçaları (Children’s Pieces) for piano or harpsichord (1984) * Küçük Süit (Junior Suite) for piano * Üç Soyut Dans (3 Abstract Dances) for piano * Üç Bagatel (3 Bagatelles) for piano (1974) * İki Sesli Sonatına (2 Audio Sonatinas) f

İstemihan Taviloğlu

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İstemihan Taviloğlu (15 April 194517 March 2006) was a Turkish composer and a music educator. He’s most known piece is the Clarinet Concerto which happens to be the first ever Clarinet Concerto composition from a Turkish composer. He is also the co-founder of the Musicology department in Ankara State Conservatory. He is also known as the teacher of all the musicians that came from conservatories in Turkey. Born in Tekirdağ, Turkey on April 15, 1945, he was the third child of Ahmet and Nuriye Taviloglu. Istemihan entered the Istanbul Conservatory at the age of eleven began violin instruction for one year, and changed his concentration to clarinet under the direction of Tevfik Çelen. In 1963 he transferred to Ankara State Conservatory and continued his clarinet education with Hayrullah Duygu. After he graduated with a music performance degree as a clarinet player he began pursuing his Master’s and DMA degrees in music composition and theory under Adnan Saygun and Erçivan Saydam. In addition he also took composition from Ilhan Usmanbaş and studied Music Theory and Solfege with Muammer Sun. Taviloğlu taught at Ankara State Conservatory and at Dokuz Eylül Conservatory in İzmir. He is kn

Kurken Alemshah

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Kurken M. Alemshah (; 22 May 1907 – 14 December 1947) was an Armenian composer and conductor. Biography Alemshah was born in Bardizag (now , near İzmit, Turkey). He began schooling in his hometown, but during the Armenian Genocide his parents sent him to Italy to continue his education at the Moorat-Raphael College in Venice. In 1923, when his teachers there became aware of his musical gifts, they enrolled him at the Milan Conservatory to study music. Following his graduation, Alemshah joined the faculty of the Paris branch of the Murat-Raphaelian school, where he organized the Giligia choir, performing not only in Paris, but also traveling to Venice, directing the choir in an all-Komitas program at St. Mark’s Square. Alemshah presented Tchouhadjian’s popular comic opera Leblebidji Hor-Hor Agha (The Chickpea Vendor), and Haygagan harsanik (The Armenian Wedding), a composition put together by combining Alemshah’s own melodies with popular songs. In 1937, Haygagan harsanik received second prize in an international competition in which twenty nations participated. Concurrently, Alemshah conducted the Alakyaz Choir on a number of occasions, initially to mark the establishment of the So

Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol

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Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol (born September 24, 1974) is a Grammy nominated Turkish-American composer and CMES Harvard University fellow (2013–15) who is a jazz pianist and singer that also performs a number of Near and Middle Eastern instruments as well as the keyboardless synthesizer Continuum Fingerboard and the SANLIKOL Renaissance 17, a digital microtonal keyboard designed and conceived by himself. The Boston Globe calls Sanlıkol’s music “colorful, fanciful, full of rhythmic life, and full of feeling” and “not touristy, but rather sophisticated, informed, internalized”, “…and he (Sanlıkol) is another who could play decisive role in music’s future in the world.” He is a full-time faculty member at the New England Conservatory (NEC). He is also the director of the Intercultural Institute at NEC and the project director/curator of Nilüfer Municipality Dr. Hüseyin Parkan Sanlıkol Musical Instruments Museum. Biography Early life The son of two Turkish Cypriots, Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol was born in Istanbul, Turkey. His father, Hüseyin Parkan Sanlıkol, was a medical doctor who got appointed by the state to a hospital in Bursa, Turkey to where the family moved in 1975. He studied western classi

Melih Kibar

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Melih Kibar (6 September 1951 – 7 April 2005) was a Turkish composer. Biography Born in Istanbul, he graduated from the German High School Istanbul and studied chemical engineering at Boğaziçi University. He received a Master’s degree from the University of Wales, University College of Swansea. At the age of eight, Kibar enrolled at the Conservatory of Istanbul Municipality. He started his musical career in the school years and won a first prize as composer at the Milliyet High School Music Contest in 1970. Until 1975 he worked with Timur Selçuk. One of his earliest compositions was Çoban Yıldızı, a jingle for Eurovision Song Contest national selection. Since 1975, he composed 273 tunes, 9 musicals and 32 film musicals in cooperation with various artists, in particular with lyricist Çiğdem Talu. In 1976, he received the Golden Orange prize for the soundtrack of the film “Hababam Sınıfı”. Melih Kibar died of skin cancer on 7 April 2005 at a hospital in Istanbul. He was taken there two days before his death. He was laid to rest at Nakkaştepe Cemetery following the religious funeral held at Bebek Mosque. He is survived by his wife Ethel and his daughter Merve. Discography *Yadigar, 20

Melis Aker

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Melis Aker is a Turkish playwright, screenwriter, actor, and musician. Her work has been developed or presented by institutions including the Sundance Institute, Signature Theatre Company, The Old Vic, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Atlantic Theater Company. Early life and education Aker received a bachelor’s degree in Dramatic Literature and Philosophy from Tufts University in 2013. She completed an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University in 2018, studying under David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage. She also trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and is pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing at King’s College London. Career Aker was selected for the New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Fellowship, Ars Nova’s Play Group, and the Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship. In 2019, her screenplay Arı Bee was selected for the Maison des Scénaristes marketplace at the Cannes Film Festival. Her play Field, Awakening was included on the 2019 Kilroys List. Set on the night of the 2016 attempted coup in Turkey, it follows childhood friends reuniting on an Istanbul football field amid political unrest. The play was featured in HowlRound’s panel on Middle Eastern playwrights

Mustafa Özkent

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Mustafa Özkent is a Turkish musician, composer and arranger. Best known for his 1973 album, Gençlik İle Elele, he also earned a reputation as an in-demand session player, arranger, and producer, “creating music that fused psychedelic and pop/rock influences with R&B grooves and jazz-influenced improvisations.” He was referred to by Andy Votel as the “Dr. Frankenstein of Anatolian pop”. Biography Özkent started his professional career in the band the Teenagers in 1960. Embarking a career as a session musician and arranger, Özkent signed with Evren Records which was known for its high production standards and audiophile recording techniques. He started recording Gençlik İle Elele with a hand-picked team of musicians and released it 1973. Discography ;Releases * Gençlik İle Elele (1973) * Elif (1975) * Günün Sevilen Şarkıları - 2 (1992) * Mazideki Şarkılar - 1 (1992) * Dijital Gitar (2005) * Dijital Piano (2006) * Funk Anatolian (2017) * Psychedelic sampling (2021) References External links *

Necil Kazım Akses

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Necil Kazım Akses (6 May 1908 – 16 February 1999) was a Turkish classical composer. Life Akses studied music and composition at the Musikakademie in Vienna with Joseph Marx and at the Prague Conservatory in Prague with Josef Suk and Alois Hába. He helped co-found the Ankara State Conservatory with the composer Paul Hindemith and served as director of the institution for a while. Together with Cemal Reşit Rey, Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Ahmet Adnan Saygun, and Hasan Ferit Alnar, Akses belonged to a group called The Turkish Five, who were the first Turkish composers to adapt their homeland’s musical tradition to the techniques of Western classical composition. (Their name alluded to the Russian Five.) In 1949, Akses entered the service of the Turkish state. He worked as the Turkish cultural attaché in Bern and Bonn, among other posts. Akses composed orchestral works, chamber music, and pieces for piano. His most famous work is his Violin Concerto (1969). Works Operas * Mete, opera in one act. Libretto: Yaşar Nabi Nayır (1933) * Bay önder, opera in one act. Libretto: Münir Hayri Egeli (1934). (First performance: 27 December 1934-Ankara-Conductor: Adnan Saygun) * Timur, opera in four acts. Libr

Pınar Köksal

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Ayşe Pınar Köksal (20 April 1946 – 19 August 2019) was a Turkish composer of Turkish classical music. Life Köksal was born in Adana, and because her father was a civil servant her childhood was spent in different parts of Anatolia. She graduated from Kayseri High School and later studied pharmacy, receiving her diploma from the Private Higher School of Pharmacy in Istanbul. She worked for 13 years as a pharmacist, and she was deputy chair of the board at Pet Holding as well as chair of the board for the Köksal Education Foundation. She was also a member of the Democratic Party Governing Board, and chair of the party’s Art Committee. From 2001 to 2007 she was a member of the Ministry of Justice Penal Institutions and Detention Houses Monitoring Board, a post from which she resigned in April 2007 for reasons of health. She was married to Prof. Dr. Güntekin Köksal and had two daughters, Ayşe and Zeynep, as well as five grandchildren: Kaya, Ege, Melissa, Rauf and Sinan. She died on August 19, 2019, due to complications caused by an operation. a work in the Acemkürdi makam for which she wrote the words as well as the music. Her first lessons in Turkish Art Music came from the late compo

Sinan Savaskan

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Sinan Carter Savaşkan (born 11 August 1954 ) is a Turkish-born, British composer of contemporary classical music. He works and lives in London, England, where he is the Composer in Residence for the Octandre Ensemble and an executive committee member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. Savaskan’s music has been programmed widely by organisations and ensembles such as the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) in London — in particular, its MusICA series run for many years by Adrian Jack—the BBC, Lontano, the Balanescu Quartet, the Smith Quartet, the S.E.M. Ensemble of New York, and such conductors as Martyn Brabbins, Zsolt Nagy and Petr Kotik. Music career Savaşkan’s music employs highly personal pitch-time structuring methods, derived from notions of spatial perspective and architecture. This pitch-time technique was first displayed in his chamber works Many Stares Through Semi-Nocturnal Zeiss Blink (1979) and Antedonia (1980). The basis of the technique is the gradual circular rotation of pitch classes moving at different speeds simultaneously; this rotation can be effected chromatically, micro-chromatically, through glissandi, or any combination of these.

Sirvart Kalpakyan Karamanuk

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Sirvart Kalpakyan Karamanuk (; 1 December 1912 – 20 October 2008) was an Armenian composer, pianist and teacher, living in Istanbul. Early life Karamanuk was born in the Üsküdar district of Constantinople, Ottoman Empire. She began studying the piano at the age of five with Stepan Papelyan, and later graduated from the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory (now Istanbul University State Conservatory) in 1939, where her principal teacher was Ferdi Statzer. She also took classes with Cemal Reşit Rey, Ahmet Adnan Saygun and Licco Amar in music theory, history and chamber music. Subsequently, Karamanuk took private lessons in piano with Lazare Lévy and composition with Jean Roger-Ducasse for a short period. Career Karamanuk composed numerous songs, choral works, large-scale compositions for chorus and orchestra (Akhtamar and The Song of Bedros Tourian), a children’s operetta (Tomorrow’s Artists), children’s songs, piano compositions, and arrangements of liturgical chants. Her works have been performed in several countries and recorded by distinguished soloists and ensembles. Concerts devoted entirely to her compositions have been organised in Yerevan’s Aram Khachaturian House-Museum and Aram

Suphi Ezgi

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Mehmet Suphi Ezgi (1869 – 12 April 1962) was an Ottoman-born Turkish military physician who specialized in neurology, and a musician, musicologist and composer. He is best known for his studies of Ottoman classical music. ,

Tevfik Akbaşlı

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Tevfik Akbasli (born 1962) is a Turkish composer. Studies One of the most prominent classical Turkish Composers, Akbasli is the son of businessman Samim Akbasli of İzmir. He spent his childhood and primary school years in Yeşilköy, Istanbul until his family moved to Izmir. He attended Dokuz Eylül University’s Vocal Studies and Opera Division and studied with distinguished names such as Sevda Aydan, Suat Taser, Kamran Ince and percussionist Oktay Aykoc. He graduated from Vocal Studies in 1982 as the first chorister to the newly founded İzmir State Opera and Ballet. In 1985, he crossed over as a percussion artist. Between 1986 and 1991, he studied percussion instruments as well as theory, harmony, composition and improvisation at the Berklee School of Music at vibraphone virtuoso Gary Burton’s Percussion Department with Professor Ed Saindon and pianist – composer Aydin Esen. Career He turned to composition in 1990. He has composed an array of pieces from opera to musicals for children, from modern dance music to chamber music. Upon the addition of his first opera, The Sacred Chest to the repertoire of The Ankara State Opera and Ballet, he moved to Ankara and continued his career as a

Turgay Erdener

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Turgay Erdener (Gümüşhane, 15 June 1957) is a contemporary Turkish composer of classical music. He first studied mandolin then entered into the piano department at Ankara State Conservatory (ADK). He has taught composition at the conservatory since 1979. He is married to the Ankara State Opera and Ballet soloist soprano Selva Erdener who has premiered his song cycle Sen sen sen (You you you) and Afife a ballet with songs based on the life of actress Afife Jale. Selected works * Mi’den Dört Bölüm.Four Movements on E, string orchestra, 1985 * İstanbulname operetta, libretto by Ferdi Merter, 1993 * Komik komik şeyler oluyor musical, libretto by Murat Göksu, 1993 * Various works for guitar. ;Film music; * Likya’nın sönmeyen ateşi – “Eternal Flames of Lycia”, 1977 Süha Arın * Mimar Sinan’ın Anıları – based on the life of Sinan the Architect, 1989 Süha Arın Recordings #Üç türk melodisi, Ahmet Kanneci, guitar (Boyut Yayıncılık/BMG, 1997) #Teo - adagio for Orchestra. Düsseldorfer Symphoniker dir. Rengim Gökmen (Deutsche Welle Classics: A-511673, 1997) #Sen Sen Sen - song cycle. Selva Erdener, soprano; Ekrem Öztan, klarinet; Tahir Öğüt, trompet; Ahmet Kanneci, guitar; Tahir Aydoğdu, kanun;

Utku Asuroglu

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Utku Asuroglu (born 1986 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music. He is the recipient of various awards including the 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship, 40th Irino Prize for Chamber Music, the Outstanding Artist Award for Music of the Austrian Ministry of Culture, and the 2021 Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award. In 2014, Beat Furrer wrote: “The craftsmanship and form of his music unite to create an extraordinarily inspired art”. Biography Utku Asuroglu received his musical studies from the Codarts University for the Arts, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Freiburg Conservatory of Music and is currently a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. During these years he studied with Brian Ferneyhough, Clemens Gadenstätter and Gérard Pesson. He won the 40th Irino Prize in 2019 and the Outstanding Artist Award for Music of the Austrian Ministry of Culture in 2016. He was a nominated finalist for the Gaudeamus Award in 2015, the Goethe Institute’s Asian Composers Showcase in 2016. Notable festivals commissioning and featuring Asuroglu’s works include Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Witten

Yüksel Koptagel

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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

Zeynep Gedizlioğlu

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zeynep Gedizlioğlu (; born 4 December 1977) is a Turkish composer who won the Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize Award in 2012. Biography Zeynep Gedizlioğlu was born 4 December 1977 in İzmir and grew up in Istanbul. She has spent most of her life in Istanbul and Berlin. Her mother is the actress Şahika Tekand and her father, Levent Gedizlioğlu, is an architect. Gedizlioğlu attended the Istanbul Conservatory. She went on to study in Saarbrücken, Strasbourg and Karlsruhe. Over the years she has learned composition from such people as Cengiz Tanç, İlhan Usmanbaş, Theo Brandmüller and Wolfgang Rihm. Works * Kesik – Portrait CD Zeynep Gedizlioglu, col legno (2012) * ‘Stop’ for the Orchestra – ‘Begegnung mit Beethoven’ – Beethovenfest and Deutsche Welle (2013) Sources