About me

Biograpy

I was born in 1981 in Ankara. Music has a big place in my life since my childhood. During my instrumental education, which started with keyboard and synthesizer in my young years, after a while I turned to classical piano. Later, when my passion for rock music was added in my youth, I got to know the electric guitar and started playing guitar in different bands. Although my main instruments are piano and electric guitar, ney and classical kemençe are also among the instruments I like to play. I am also interested in modal Turkish music and its theory.

Curiosity and love for music were the reasons why I chose music as a profession in the course of time. After graduating from high school, I studied opera singing at the State Conservatory of Selçuk University, Parallel to the subjects of voice training, piano, diction, acting and stage lessons, I also took music theory and composition lessons with Sami Hatipoğlu during the five years of my opera training. In 2003, I graduated from the Department of Opera Singing.

In 2004 I moved to Germany to realize my dream of studying composition. The following year I started my studies at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen in composition, orchestra conducting and piano. In 2010 I graduated in composition. Immediately afterwards, I was accepted into the PhD program in the Department of Musicology with the research thesis "Transcultural Processes from Traditional Ottoman Music to Contemporary Western Music" and taught analysis in the composition department of the same institution for two semesters.

Compositions

2 operas, 6 symphonies, 42 chamber music works in solo, trio, quartet and ensemble form, 9 electroacoustic works, 28 songs, oratorio "Mevlâna Celaleddîn Rumî", children`s musical "Ayla`s Dream Journey" and Nazım Hikmet`s "Sevdalı Bulut" concert children`s theater music, theater, film, commercial music and many symphonic arrangements are among my works.

Besides classical music, I also like to produce popular music. As an arranger, conductor and musician I have been involved in symphonic rock/pop, world music and fusion projects.

I work with institutions and ensembles such as the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Dortmund Opera, the Wuppertal Opera, the Bochum Symphony, the Essen Philharmonic, the Dortmund Philharmonic, the Hagen Philharmonic, the ensembles E-mex, Linea and Folkwang Modern.

In addition to my work as a freelance composer, I am also active as an orchestral and choral conductor and teach music theory and arranging/orchestration at the Landesmusikakademie NRW. Since 2017, I have been a jury member at the NRW State Choir Competition.