Klasik Keyifler Müzik DerneÄŸi - FevzipaÅŸa Mahallesi, Çay Kenarı Sokak, No: 151, Merkez Çanakkale - music@klasikkeyifler.org +90 532 614 4955
BEETHOVEN 250
MUSICIANS
Ellen Jewett
Violin
Ellen Jewett, violin
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Violinist, Ellen Jewett has performed around the world and throughout the US in major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall and the Kennedy Center, For 11 years Ellen Jewett was a member of the prize-winning Audubon Quartet. Hailed by the New York Times for their “strikingly beautiful, luminescent sound” the quartet performed throughout the US and abroad for 37 years and coordinated an intensive string quartet seminar every summer at the Chautauqua Institute.in NY. Other chamber music collaborations include performances with Yo Yo Ma, Maxim Vengerov, James Buswell, Colin Carr, John O'Conor, James Campbell, Eli Eban, Rusen Gunes, Johannes Moser and Idil Biret. An avid performer of contemporary music, she has performed many premiers and worked closely with such composers as Phillip Glass, Sir Michael Tippett, Leon Kirchener and Kamran Ince and has performed with important NY-based contemporary music ensembles such as Continuum, Sequiter and Ensemble X. She received her BM at Indiana University and MM at the State University of New York, Stony Brook where her major teachers were Joyce Robbins, James Buswell and Josef Gingold. Ellen Jewett has performed as one of the concertmasters of the Borusan Philharmonic and Bilkent Orchestra and is currently the founder and artistic director of Klasik Keyifler, a chamber music festival in Cappadocia. She has served on the faculties of McGill University, SUNY Stony Brook, Ithaca College, and Ankara University. Ms. Jewett has recorded for Centaur, Chandos and recently released a CD of Turkish solo music on Naxos.
Gökhan BaÄŸcı
Cello
Gökhan BaÄŸcı, cello
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Bağcı was born in Antalya in 1990 and enjoys a varied career throughout Turkey and abroad. Currently he is the principal cellist of the Gedik Philharmonic Orchestra and is a permanent member of the Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra, both based in İstanbul-Turkey. In 2012 Bağcı joined Turkey's premier contemporary group Hezarfen Ensemble, and has performed many premieres including the Turkish premier of Michael Ellison’s contemporary opera “Mevlana, Say I am” at the Istanbul Festival, and the world premier at the Rotterdam Operadagen. He also performed for the CD recording of this opera. He performed a number of concerts as part of a European tour of Hezarfen Ensemble including the MaerzMusik Festival in Berlin, the Roma Goethe Institute and the Würzburg. Theather am Neunerplatz. Bağcı has attended master classes with artists such as Peter Bruns, Johannes Moser, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Markku Lulojan-Mikkola, Wolgang Boettcher, Ruth Phillips, Mauro Valli, Benyamin Sonmez, Cağ Ercağ, Şölen Dikener and Harald Herzl. As a graduate of Bilkent University, he was a principal cellist of the Turkish Youth Orchestra and was awarded a scholarship to study in Leipzig from the prestigious 'Young Artists on the World Stage" founded by the Pekinel piano duo. He has performed chamber music with Tatjana Masurenko, Emre Elivar, Ellen Jewett, Özcan Ulucan, and Ruşen Güneş, and regularly joins concerts with Klasik Keyifler. He is a founding member of the Trio Ba, and Begoa Ensemble (where he is the letter G). He is the co-artistic director of Klasik Keyifler
Başar Can Kıvrak
Piano
Başar Can Kıvrak, piano
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Başar Can Kıvrak graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow with the highest distinction- the“red diploma” in May of 2012. Starting lessons at the age of ten, he worked with Ozan Bilen and Emre Şen before being accepted to Bilkent University Music Preparatory High School to study with Namık Sultanov. He earned his undergraduate degree from Bilkent University in 2008 working with Gülnara Aziz. Winning many awards in national and international competitions, Kıvrak was awarded the Third Prize in the Ferdi Statzer Piano Competition held in Istanbul in 2002, the Yamaha Scholarship in 2004, and the Grand Prix in the Second International Young Virtuosos Piano Competition held in Sofia in 2005. Working with Gülsin Onay, he gave a concert at the Gümüşlük International Classical Music Festival in August 2005. He has performed as a soloist with most of the main Turkish orchestras including the Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra, Bursa State Symphony Orchestra, Eskişehir Anadolu University Symphony Orchestra, Bilkent Youth Symphony Orchestra, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Tekfen Orchestra, and Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, and has made recordings for TRT Ankara Radio. Kıvrak is the founding member of TrioBa with who he performed the complete piano trios of Beethoven in the 2016-17 season. He is also the founding member and“B” letter of the BEGOA Ensemble and in 2019 formed the Duo Yin Yang with violist Pınar Dinçer. In 2019 he received his Artist Diploma degree from the EskiÅŸehir State Conservatory and is currently serving on the faculty Yasar University in Izmir.
Özcan Ulucan
Violin
Özcan Ulucan, vilolin
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Özcan Ulucan is a Turkish violinist and viola player who was born in Bulgaria. He has studied in Bulgaria, Turkey, UK and Germany with Yfrah Neaman, Viktor Pikaizen, Joshua Epstein and Maxim Vengerov who called him "The most accomplished among my students, he is a true follower of my music philosophy on stage.."
Özcan has performed as solist with the English Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra London in venues such as Royal Albert Hall London, Konzerthaus Berlin, Wels Festival, Ludwigsburg Festival, Budapest Spring Festival and Amsterdam Concertgebow, and together with Maxim Vengerov and the legendary Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich conducting the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. He has also performed with all of the major orchestras throughout Turkey. He is a founding member of Turkey's premier new music ensemble, the Hezarfen ensemble with whom h has performed numerous premieres. He also performs regularly with his siblings, Birsen and AyÅŸen Ulucan.
Özcan has two CD recordings under the label of Lila Music in Ä°stanbul. Website: www.ozcanulucan.com
Poyraz Baltacıgil
Cello
Poyraz Baltacıgil, cello
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Poyraz Baltacigil born in 1994, is the Associate Principal Cellist of the Borusan Ä°stanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and also teaches at the Mimar Sinan Conservatory in Istanbul. He is an active solo musician and is the founding member of the Trio Likya. Beginning on the violin and moving to cello, he entered the Mimar Sinan Conservatory in Istanbul in 2005 as a full-time student in DilbaÄŸ Tokay’s class. Graduating in 2015, he was selected as a master student to the class of Jean-Guihen Queyras and subsequently attended masterclases with Yo-Yo Ma, Alexander Rudin, Natalia Gutman, Steven Isserlis, Martin Ostertag, Johannes Moser, Maria Kliegel and Gustav Rivinius.
He has performed as soloist with many orchestras including the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Izmir State Symphony Orchestra, He has been awarded many prizes including the “International Young Virtuosos” in Bulgaria and the “Benyamin Sönmez National Cello Competition” with president of the jury Natalia Gutman. He has also been selected as “The Best Young Musician of the Year 2016” by Andante Classical Music Magazine..
Lauma Skride
Piano
Lauma Skride, piano
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Awarded the Beethoven Ring in 2008, Lauma is highly acclaimed for her interpretations of Germanic classical and romantic repertoire. In recent seasons, Lauma Skride has appeared with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, and the Orquesta de Gran Canaria. Lauma Skride performs with such conductors as Andris Nelsons, Kristjan Järvi, Anu Tali, Muhai Tang, Peter Ruzicka, John Storgårds, Pedro Halffter, André de Ridder, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Cornelius Meister.
Lauma Skride is also committed to the long established duo with her sister, violinist Baiba Skride. In October 2011, the duo premiered Hans Abrahamsen’s double concerto with the Royal Danish Orchestra in Copenhagen and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra – a work that was composed for the pair.
Passionate energy, youthful vigour and musical sensitivity have become the trademarks of the Skride duo. Other chamber music partners of Lauma Skride include cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, Sol Gabetta and Julian Steckel, as well as Jörg Widmann and Christian Tetzlaff and the Armida Quartett.
Lauma Skride recorded Fanny Hensel’s piano cycle Das Jahr for Sony in 2007 and received an ECHO Classic Award as Best Young Artist for this recording.
KIvanç Tire
Violin
Kıvanç Tire, violin
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“A chamber music group can attain similarity of tone, unity in feeling and performance only after a considerable period of working together. İn spite of this, we succeeded in performing in remarkable harmony within a short time and were fully satisfied with our concerts.” Born in Aydın in 1989, Kıvanç Tire began violin lessons at the age of 11 with Prof. Murat Tamer at Hacettepe University State Conservatory in Ankara. In 2003 he was the child soloist in Fazıl Say’s Metin Altıok Oratorio. In 2010 he joined the Young Musicians on World Stages project and in the same year he passed the entrance exam for the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and was selected to join the permanent staff. In February 2010 Tire won the first prize at the Yamaha Instrumental Competition in Turkey and was group leader in the Turkish Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. After graduating from Hacettepe University State Conservatory in Ankara, Tire continued his higher education with Aitzol Iturriagagoitia at the Bartholdy Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig. Kıvanç has been accepted as a member of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, which is one of the most prestigious and rooted orchestras in Europe. From 26 applicants, he was one of two who were accepted to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Academy where he continued his studies with the orchestra. In 2012-13 Tire took part in many concerts under the YMWS project, and was eventually selected to be a permanent member of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, henceforth performing in all of their concerts. Kıvanç Tire was a scholar of the “Young Musicians of World Stages” Project initiated and mentored by Güher and Süher Pekinel and sponsored by Tüpraş from 2010 to 2013.
Gözde YaÅŸar
Cello
Gözde YaÅŸar, cello
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Gözde YaÅŸar was born in Izmir in 1985. She started her study in cello with Hara Aliyev at Bilkent Preparatory School with a full scholarship in 1995. In 2003 YaÅŸar performed M. Bruch’s “Kol Nidrei” with the Bilkent Youth Orchestra. She won the second place prize in the Trakya 6th International Cello Competition. In 2004 she joined the concert tour of the Anadolu Youth Orchestra and performed in many places in Turkey, Belgium, and Germany. In 2007 YaÅŸar performed Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with the Bilkent Youth Orchestra. She has played contemporary works as well. She participated in the Lucas David and Young Talents group.
After graduating from the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts at Bilkent University in 2007, YaÅŸar received a Fulbright scholarship and continued her Master′s degree in cello in the Program of SUNY/Purchase State University of New York with Julia Lichten. In 2009 YaÅŸar performed Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the Purchase Symphony. She pursued her doctoral degree with Evelyn Elsing and Peter Wiley at the University of Maryland in 2009. YaÅŸar performed Tchaikovsky′s Rococo variations at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, the Bonnie Hampton, and Mischa Maisky′s master classes. She has developed her Ottoman Music Project, which she began in 2006, and performed with Mahir Cetiz in New York and Ottowa (Canada). In addition to performing as a member of chamber orchestras such as the Apollo Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Concert Artists, and Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, YaÅŸar actively performs as a soloist. She is currently teaching at Mimar Sinan University Conservatory.
Jerfi Aji
Piano
Jerfi Aji, piano
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Born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1976, Jerfi Aji started his piano training at the age of five with private lessons from Zeynep Aksoy EÄŸilmez. He continued his piano studies with Hülya Ardıç, while pursuing a bachelor's degree in Textile Engineering at Istanbul Technical University (ITU). Aji then completed a Master of Music at ITU's Dr. Erol Üçer Center for Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM), where he studied piano with State Artist AyÅŸegül Sarıca. Meanwhile, he also earned an M.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering at BoÄŸaziçi University. In 2006, Aji was accepted to the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where he completed his doctoral studies in piano performance with Marian Hahn, graduating with a DMA degree in 2011. During his studies there, he was granted a graduate teaching assistantship in opera accompaniment.
Jerfi Aji performed in masterclasses with Leon Fleisher, Murray Perahia and Jerome Rose, and participated in the ARIA International Summer Academy in Muncie, Indiana, and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College of Music. He also studied with prominent pianists and pedagogues, including Thomas Hecht, Dimitry Rachmanov, Angela Cheng and Ali Darmar, among others.
Jerfi Aji has given solo recitals and chamber music concerts in Turkey and the United States, collaborating with artists such as James Buswell, Amit Peled, Carol Ou, Ellen Jewett, Michael Berkovsky, Hüseyin Sermet and Cihat AÅŸkın. Aji is a member of Trio Kuvars Viyolet, with clarinetist Evrim Güvemli and cellist RahÅŸan Apay, and the MIAM Modern Music Ensemble.
In 2011, Aji was recipient of the Frances M. Wentz Turner Memorial Prize in Piano presented by the Peabody Conservatory. Along with an active performance career, Aji also teaches courses such as Introduction to Music Theory, Classical Form Analysis, 20th Century Piano Literature and Chamber Music as a faculty member at ITU-MIAM.
Erkin Onay
Violin
Erkin Onay, violin
Erkin Onay has performed throughout Turkey and abroad as a chamber musician and recitalist including in England, Greece, Ukraine, France, India, Germany, Japan and Brazil. As a soloist he has performed with the Presidential Orchestra, the state orchestras of Ä°stanbul, Ä°zmir, Antalya, and Bursa with distinguished conductors such as Gürer Aykal, Rengim Gökmen, Ä°brahim Yazıcı, Antonio Pirolli, Naci Özgüç, Vladimir Altschuler and Emil Tabakov.
Born in Istanbul in 1976, Erkin Onay began his violin studies with his grandfather Joachim Reusch. Between 1989 and 1994 he studied privately with Atilla Aydın at the Hannover School of Music. In 1990 he won 2nd prize in the Young Musicians Competition held in Germany. In 1994 he won a special award for talented students at Freiburg University where he continued his studies with Jörg Hoffman. In 1996 he began graduate studies at the Conservatory of Winterthur in Switzerland where he was accepted into the class of Hungarian pedagogue Gyorgy Pauk. Continuing at Winterthur he worked with one of Heifetz’s last star students Rudolf Koelman, and in 2001 received his diploma with the highest honors. He received his Artist diploma in 2005 in Turkey where he worked with Turkish “State Artist” Suna Kan.
He performed as concertmaster of the Antalya State Orchestra from 1999-2004 and Bilkent Symphony from 2005-2007. He has been concertmaster of the Ankara Opera and Ballet orchestra since 2007. He is the founding member of the Trio Hexis and the Begoa Ensemble where he is the letter “E”.
ÇaÄŸ ErçaÄŸ
Cello
ÇaÄŸ ErçaÄŸ, cello
ÇaÄŸ ErçaÄŸ received his diploma from the Hacettepe State Conservatoy where he studied percussion and cello with Jozsef Györffy and DoÄŸan Cangal. He graduated with the highest honors in 1996. As a student he toured a number of counties with the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra including Egypt, France, Holland and Luxemburg, and also attended master classes with Lois Claret.
He has performed with a number of artists including Gürer Aykal, Fazıl Say, Ayla Erduran, AyÅŸegül Sarıca, Robert Cohen, Alexander Rudin and Daniel Grosgurin. As a soloist, he has performed with The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, the Presidential Symphony, the Bursa, Izmir and Antalya State Orchestras, Vienna Youth Orchestra and with the ÅžiÅŸli Municial orchestra
In 2005 he joined the Borusan Quartet, founded by Gürer Aykal, which is currently the premier quartet in Turkey. They have performed at the Schleswig-Holstein, Istanbul and Ankara festivals and given concerts appearances in many major halls include Zurich Tonhalle, Carnegie Hall, Concertgebauw, Philharmonie de Paris, Konzerthaus Berlin, , and the Musikverein. Their CDs have been released by the IBA label of Naxos, Lila Music and Onyx Records. The quartet worked with members of the Julliard and Alban Berg quartets as well as with Maxim Vengerov and Joshua Epstein. In 2010 they won the 1st prize in the ICMEC International Chamber Music competition in NY. They have given concerts in Austria, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Algeria, Holland, Serbia, Qatar, Belarus, Portugal, Jordan, Switzerland, Greece, USA, Japan, England. He is a founding member of the cello quartet, Cellistanbul and the Trio Hexis.
Gökhan Aybulus
Piano
Gökhan Aybulus, piyano
Turkish pianist Gökhan Aybulus began his music education at the Anadolu State Conservatory in EskiÅŸehir where he studied with Zöhrab Adıgüzelzade. In 2000 he continued his studies at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and received his bachelors and masters degrees with Naum Shtarkman. In 2009 he finished his PhD with Sergei Dorensky. During his time in Russia he also worked with many musicians including Mikhail Voskresensky, Ruvim Ostrovsky, Pavel Nersesian, Nikolai Lugansky, Andrey Pisarev and Nina Kogan.
He has performed throughout Turkey and extensively around the world including in the US, Russia, Ukraine, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Croatia, and Azerbaijan. In 2012 he toured China as a soloist with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra along with conductor Rengim Gökmen. They performed in Beijing, Xi’an, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
He has been fortunate to perform with a number of world famous artists such as Naum Shtarkman, Nikolay Lugansky, Dora Schwarzberg, Natalia Gutman, Cihat AÅŸkın, Bülent Evcil, Alexander Buzlov, Roman Simovich and Alexander Kagan. He has participated in numerous festivals including the Slovenian Carniola Festival, the Bruckner Festival in Austria, the Bellapais Festival in Cyprus and in concert halls such as Philharmonie Essen, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Beijing Concert Hall.
He joined the faculty of Anadolu State Conservatory in EskiÅŸehir in 2012 and received the Arts Incentive Award in 2013. In 2017 he won the award from Turkey’s premier classical music magazine “Andante” for best pianist of the year.
Esen Kıvrak
Violin
Esen Kıvrak, violin
Kivrak currently serves as the first violinist of the Borusan Quartet with whom he has participated in a number of highly successful national and international concert tours including the Schleswig-Holstein, Istanbul and Ankara festivals. Concert appearances include Zurich Tonhalle, Carnegie Hall Concertgebauw, Philharmonie de Paris, Konzerthaus Berlin, Schloss Elmau, and Musikverein. Their CDs have been released by the IBA label of Naxos, Lila Music and Onyx Records.
Born in 1977 Kıvrak started his musical education with Prof Hazar Alapınar at the Izmir State Conservatory. After winning a grant from the Izmir Municipality and being chosen as the most successful young artist of the year, he was accepted into the class of Josef Silvo at the Vienna Music Academy, one of the world’s leading music schools. Kıvrak represented Turkey at numerous international organizations and completed his undergraduate degree at 2001. He received the highest honors for his master degree at 2006 when he was a student with Prof Michael Frischenschlager
He has performed as soloist with all the Turkish state symphony orchestras, as well as with the Borusan Philharmonic, Bilkent Symphony, Toronto Youth Orchestra, Ensemble Salieri, Concertante Vienna, Vienna Youth Orchestra, Istanbul Åžili Municipality Orchestra, Istanbul Synphonietta, BaÅŸkent Academiz Orch, Orchestra Sion and Samsun Opera Orchestra.
In 2005 he became one of the first official members of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic and in 2006 he was invited as a guest concertmaster of the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra. He plays a 1722 L. Storioni given on loan to him by the Borusan Foundation.
Dorukhan Doruk
Cello
Dorukhan Doruk, cello
As a prize winner of various international competitions among them the 10th Lutoslawski International Cello Competition, he has appeared in major concert halls such as Vienna Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Zurich, Victoria Hall Geneva and Warsaw Philharmonic Hall.
Born in 1991 in Istanbul, Doruk began lessons with DilbaÄŸ Tokay and continued with Claus Kanngiesser at the Cologne University of Music, and later with Truls Mørk at the Norwegian Academy of Music. He made his debut as a soloist when he was 13, and has since performed with various orchestras such as the Warsaw Philharmonic, Zagreb Soloists, Slovak Sinfonietta, Budapest Strings, and all the major orchestras of Turkey. He toured with pianist Fazıl Say, performing Say’s music on tour in Turkey as well as in Switzerland and Austria.​
Doruk has appeared as a soloist in prestigious festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Verbier Festival, Istanbul Music Festival and the Bodensee Music Festival. He has participated in masterclasses with renown cellists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Gary Hoffman, David Geringas, Steven Isserlis, Ralph Kirshbaum, Jens Peter Maintz, Torleif Thédeen, Antonio Meneses, Philippe Muller, Joel Krosnick, Wolfgang Boetcher and participated to the Seiji Ozawa Academy.
He was a recipient of DAAD scholarship for 4 years as well as a laureate Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now and was selected for the “Young Musicians on World Stages Project” initiated and mentored by the Pekinel Duo with the financial support of TüpraÅŸ.
In 2011 he has was awarded “Young Musician of the Year” at the Donizetti Classical Music Awards.
Birsen Ulucan
Piano
Birsen Ulucan, piano
Turkish pianist Birsen Ulucan is currently in great demand as a soloist, chamber musician and is a dedicated educator both at the conservatory and with children. Her concerts have taken her to to Bulgaria, Turkey, Germany, the United Kingdom, the US, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Italy, France, Austria, Israel, Greece and Portugal.
She was born in Bulgaria and began her studies at the Varna Music Conservatory. Growing up in a family believing that all branches of the arts make up a whole, Birsen Ulucan also took ballet and cello lessons and debuted with the Shumen Orchestra when she was 12 years old where she In 1989 she graduated and that same year emigrated to Turkey with her family. She continued at the Ä°stanbul State Conservatory, Guildhall School of Music&Drama in London and received her doctorate at the City University of London.
She was chosen as the collaborative pianist in the class of the world-famous violinist Maxim Vengerov at the Saarbrücken Music Academy in Germany and worked with many leading young violinists.
She has performed as soloist with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra,, Liszt Chamber Orchestra and the leading orchestras of Turkey.
She has also given concerts at such festivals as the Salzburg Mozarteum,, Istanbul Festival, France International Flain Music Festival, and Cyprus Bellapais Music Festival and has shared the stage with musicians like Maxim Vengerov, Marta Gulyas, Isabelle van Keulen and Christian Poltera.
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Birsen Ulucan has three recordings with Lila Music Label. Her website is:
Özcan Ulucan
Violin
Özcan Ulucan, violin
Violinist and violist, Özcan Ulucan was born in the city of Shumen, Bulgaria into a Turkish family where the arts and humanities were most admired. He continued his musical education in Varna and immigrated with his family to Istanbul in 1989. He continued his studies in Turkey, UK and Germany with renowned violinists Yfrah Neaman, Viktor Pikaizen, Joshua Epstein and finished his graduate work with Maxim Vengerov who called him "The most accomplished among my students, he is a true follower of my music philosophy on stage." Ulucan worked as an assistant to Maxim Vengerov in the Music Academy Saarbrücken, and also he joined Jazz Improvisation sessions as a violinist at the Music Academy Saarbrücken under the coaching of the jazz pianist Georg Ruby.
Özcan has performed as soloist with the English Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra London in venues such as Royal Albert Hall London, Konzerthaus Berlin, Wels Festival, Ludwigsburg Festival, Budapest Spring Festival and Amsterdam Concertgebow, and together with Maxim Vengerov and the legendary Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich conducting the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. He has also performed with all of the major orchestras throughout Turkey. He is a founding member of Turkey's premier new music ensemble, the Hezarfen ensemble with whom he has performed numerous premieres. He also performs regularly with his siblings, Birsen and AyÅŸen Ulucan and is currently on the teaching faculty of Mimar sinan Conservatory in Istanbul. Özcan has two CD recordings under the label of Lila Music in Ä°stanbul.
Indira Rahmatulla
Cello
Indira Rahmatulla, cello
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Born in a family of musicians, Indira began her cello studies with her parents. A graduate of the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, Indira studied with Vagram Saradjian in Houston, Ronald Leonard in Los Angeles and after with Jean-Guihen Queyras completing her Masters Studies and Soloist Diploma in Freiburg, Germany. In addition, Indira has completed her chamber music studies as a part of piano “Trio Areti” at the Instituto de Musica de Camara de Reina Sofia de Madrid under Ralf Gothoni. Indira has won numerous prizes in prestigious international competitions, including Aram Khachaturian International Cello Competition in Armenia, Luis Sigall International Cello Competition in Chile and Pasadena Showcase Instrumental Competition in Los Angeles, California. Indira has appeared as soloist with Orchestras around the world among which are Armenian State Orchestra in Yerevan, National Symphony Orchestra of Santiago de Chile, American Youth Symphony and Torrance Symphony Orchestra in LA and Bilkent Symphony and Bursa State Symphony Orchestra in Turkey. As a chamber musician, Indira has performed in collaboration with many leading artists such as Menahem Pressler, Paul Coletti, Sergio Azzolini, Alexander Melnikov and has been mentored by outstanding musicians among which are Arnold Steinhardt, Eldar Nebolsin, Ferenc Rados and Tabea Zimmermann. Indira was a fellow at the VillaMusica foundation in Rheinland-Pfalz. Since 2015, Indira is a member of Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne in Switzerland and frequently performs with the Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble under Thomas Hengelbrock and Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
ÇaÄŸdaÅŸ Özkan
Piano
ÇaÄŸdaÅŸ Özkan , piano
Described as “...the most sensitive duo pianist” by Turkey’s leading classical music magazine “Andante”, Özkan has appeared in numerous concerts in USA and in his native Turkey. As a chamber musician and collaborative pianist Mr. Özkan has a significant repertoire and knowledge in instrumental and vocal music.
Some of Mr. Özkan’s performance venues include New York City’s Alice Tully Hall and The Juilliard School’s Paul and Morse Halls. As an orchestral pianist, ÇaÄŸdaÅŸ Özkan has appeared as a member of the Juilliard Orchestra in John Adams’ “City Noir” in its New York premiere in Carnegie Hall.
As a demanded studio pianist, Mr. Özkan worked closely with the faculty of the Juilliard School such as Naoko Tanaka, Stephen Clapp, Ronald Copes and Robert C. White. Mr. Özkan has also participated in summer festivals such as Aspen Music Festival and Music Academy of the West as a Collaborative Piano Fellow.
A graduate of The Juilliard School, Mr. Özkan is a recipient of American Turkish Society’s “Ahmet Ertegün Scholarship”, “Borusan Music Scholarship” and “Mitzi Scholarship”. He holds a masters degree from The Juilliard School in Collaborative Piano and bachelor of music from Bilkent University, Turkey. His principal teachers include Jonathan Feldman, Margo Garrett, Zarema Safarova and Prof. Ersin Onay.
Ellen Jewett
Violin
Ellen Jewett, violin
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Violinist, Ellen Jewett has performed around the world and throughout the US in major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall and the Kennedy Center, For 11 years Ellen Jewett was a member of the prize-winning Audubon Quartet. Hailed by the New York Times for their “strikingly beautiful, luminescent sound” the quartet performed throughout the US and abroad for 37 years and coordinated an intensive string quartet seminar every summer at the Chautauqua Institute.in NY. Other chamber music collaborations include performances with Yo Yo Ma, Maxim Vengerov, James Buswell, Colin Carr, John O'Conor, James Campbell, Eli Eban, Rusen Gunes, Johannes Moser and Idil Biret. An avid performer of contemporary music, she has performed many premiers and worked closely with such composers as Phillip Glass, Sir Michael Tippett, Leon Kirchener and Kamran Ince and has performed with important NY-based contemporary music ensembles such as Continuum, Sequiter and Ensemble X. She received her BM at Indiana University and MM at the State University of New York, Stony Brook where her major teachers were Joyce Robbins, James Buswell and Josef Gingold. Ellen Jewett has performed as one of the concertmasters of the Borusan Philharmonic and Bilkent Orchestra and is currently the founder and artistic director of Klasik Keyifler, a chamber music festival in Cappadocia. She has served on the faculties of McGill University, SUNY Stony Brook, Ithaca College, and Ankara University. Ms. Jewett has recorded for Centaur, Chandos and recently released a CD of Turkish solo music on Naxos.
Elizabeth Simkin
Cello
Elizabeth Simkin, cello
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Cellist and educator, Elizabeth Simkin has been on the faculty at the Ithaca College School of Music since the fall of 1994. She has played and recorded with many groups, including the Sheherezade trio the Mellits Consort featuring the music of Marc Mellits, and Ensemble X with whom she premiered numerous new works. Past projects include seven years on the faculty at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, serving in the US artistic ambassador program in the Czech Republic, and return appearances at summer festivals such as Garth Newel, Olympic, Skaneateles, Heifetz, Chenango, Tanglewood, Spoleto, Chautauqua and others. As a teacher, she strives to liberate her students towards ever deeper experiences of the magic of music. She carries and passes on some of the wisdom of her own teachers such as Carla Lumsden via Shinichi Suzuki and Toby Saks in childhood and Steven Doane, at Eastman and Oberlin. Just before coming to Ithaca, she studied with and served as teaching assistant, her mentor the late master, Janos Starker. In addition to her work at Ithaca College, she enjoys working with younger students and leads the advanced cello program at the Ithaca Suzuki Institute each summer. She has become increasingly interested in contemplative and service-oriented dimensions in music, and has nurtured this interest through exploring playing at the bedside for health care patients and their families, providing music for spiritual occasions and life transitions,. For the last four years she has taught a course, “Exploring Music as Medicine” at IC.
Lauma Skride
Piano
Lauma Skride, piano
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Awarded the Beethoven Ring in 2008, Latvian pianist Lauma Skride is highly acclaimed for her interpretations of Germanic classical and romantic repertoire. The Bavarian Broadcasting Service has described her playing as “wonderfully sensitive, with marvelous tone quality and always with highly virtuosic vigor”. In recent seasons, she has appeared as soloist with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, and the Dresden Philharmonic Lauma Skride performs with such conductors as Andris Nelsons, Kristjan Järvi, Anu Tali, Muhai Tang, Peter Ruzicka, John Storgårds, Pedro Halffter, André de Ridder, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Cornelius Meister. Lauma Skride is also committed to the long established duo with her sister, violinist Baiba Skride. The duo premiered Hans Abrahamsen’s double concerto with the Royal Danish Orchestra and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra – a work that was composed for the pair. Passionate energy, youthful vigour and musical sensitivity have become the trademarks of the Skride duo. She has also toured extensively with the Skride Piano Quartet. Other chamber music partners include cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, Sol Gabetta and Julian Steckel, as well as Jörg Widmann and Christian Tetzlaff and the Armida Quartett. Lauma Skride recorded Fanny Hensel’s piano cycle Das Jahr for Sony in 2007 and received an ECHO Classic Award as Best Young Artist for this recording. She studied under Volker Banfield at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg and has participated in numerous international competitions since the age of eleven, among them the Maria Canals Competition in Spain and the Cleveland International Piano Competition.
Önder BaloÄŸlu
Violin
Önder BaloÄŸlu, violin
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Born in 1988 in Adana, Turkey Baloglu started violin lessons with Ferhang Huseynov and continued his studies at the Folkwang Art University in Essen under Nana Jashvili, Pieter Daniel and Andreas Reiner. He worked with renowned musicians such as Vadim Gluzman, Gordan Nikolic, Ivry Gitlis and Patricia Kopatchinskaja. He has performed as a soloist with the Turkish state orchestras of Bursa, Antalya, Adana and Izmir, and the Bilkent Symphony, the Folkwang Symphony, the Koblenz Rheinische State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bochum Symphonic, the Duisburg Philharmonic and the Ensemble Folkwang Modern. He was featured on Turkish TRT and the German ZDF and WDR3 stations. He has performed as concertmaster with the Bilkent Symphony, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Ensemble Ruhr, KlangVerwaltung Orchestra and is currently the concertmaster of Duisburg Philharmonic and Gedik Orchestra in Istanbul. He plays in a number of chamber ensembles including the Duo BalKan, Quart.essence, Ensemble Turquoise at venues such as the Philharmonie Essen, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Istanbul-Essen European Cultural Capitals events, Young Euro Classic Festival in Berlin, klasik Keyifler in Cappadocia, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland. Since 2015, Önder has been the artistic director of the chamber music festival “Klassisch.Unterirdisch - das Underground-Festival der Klassik“ which he began at the Katakomben Theater in Essen. He has performed in Turkey Austria, Switzerland, Spain, USA, Canada, France, China, India, Korea, Russia, Argentina, Brazil and Peru. He is on the faculty at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen and performs on a violin by Rafaelle & Antonio Gagliano of Napoli from 1850 www.onderbaloglu.com
Gökhan BaÄŸcı
Cello
Gökhan BaÄŸcı, cello
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Bağcı was born in Antalya in 1990 and enjoys a varied career throughout Turkey and abroad. Currently he is the principal cellist of the Gedik Philharmonic Orchestra and is a permanent member of the Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra, both based in İstanbul-Turkey. In 2012 Bağcı joined Turkey's premier contemporary group Hezarfen Ensemble, and has performed many premieres including the Turkish premier of Michael Ellison’s contemporary opera “Mevlana, Say I am” at the Istanbul Festival, and the world premier at the Rotterdam Operadagen. He also performed for the CD recording of this opera. He performed a number of concerts as part of a European tour of Hezarfen Ensemble including the MaerzMusik Festival in Berlin, the Roma Goethe Institute and the Würzburg. Theather am Neunerplatz. Bağcı has attended master classes with artists such as Peter Bruns, Johannes Moser, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Markku Lulojan-Mikkola, Wolgang Boettcher, Ruth Phillips, Mauro Valli, Benyamin Sonmez, Cağ Ercağ, Şölen Dikener and Harald Herzl. As a graduate of Bilkent University, he was a principal cellist of the Turkish Youth Orchestra and was awarded a scholarship to study in Leipzig from the prestigious 'Young Artists on the World Stage" founded by the Pekinel piano duo. He has performed chamber music with Tatjana Masurenko, Emre Elivar, Ellen Jewett, Özcan Ulucan, and Ruşen Güneş, and regularly joins concerts with Klasik Keyifler. He is a founding member of the Trio Ba, and Begoa Ensemble (where he is the letter G). He is the co-artistic director of Klasik Keyifler
Başar can Kıvrak
Piano
Başar Can Kıvrak, piano
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Başar Can Kıvrak graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow with the highest distinction- the“red diploma” in May of 2012. Starting lessons at the age of ten, he worked with Ozan Bilen and Emre Şen before being accepted to Bilkent University Music Preparatory High School to study with Namık Sultanov. He earned his undergraduate degree from Bilkent University in 2008 working with Gülnara Aziz. Winning many awards in national and international competitions, Kıvrak was awarded the Third Prize in the Ferdi Statzer Piano Competition held in Istanbul in 2002, the Yamaha Scholarship in 2004, and the Grand Prix in the Second International Young Virtuosos Piano Competition held in Sofia in 2005. Working with Gülsin Onay, he gave a concert at the Gümüşlük International Classical Music Festival in August 2005. He has performed as a soloist with most of the main Turkish orchestras including the Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra, Bursa State Symphony Orchestra, Eskişehir Anadolu University Symphony Orchestra, Bilkent Youth Symphony Orchestra, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Tekfen Orchestra, and Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, and has made recordings for TRT Ankara Radio. Kıvrak is the founding member of TrioBa with who he performed the complete piano trios of Beethoven in the 2016-17 season. He is also the founding member and“B” letter of the BEGOA Ensemble and in 2019 formed the Duo Yin Yang with violist Pınar Dinçer. In 2019 he received his Artist Diploma degree from the EskiÅŸehir State Conservatory and is currently serving on the faculty Yasar University in Izmir.