The Turkey famous composers

1. The Turkey famous composers Comenius 2011-2013

2. Ahmet Adnan SAYGUN (1907-1991) Ahmed Adnan SAYGUN (7 September 1907 - 6 January 1991) was a Turkish composer, musicologist and writer on music. He was one of the most important 20th century Turkish Composers. His Works elegently synthesize western musical ideals with traditional Turkish folk culture. His large and diverse cataloque includes five symphonies, five operas, two piano concertos, various concertos and a wide range of chamber and choral Works. The times (London) recalled him as “the Grand old man of Turkish music”. Ahmed Adnan SAYGUN was born in 1907 in İzmir. His father who was a mathematics teacher and scholar of religions and literature taught him English and French as well as the religions of the world his early ages. When he was at a high school, he continued his music lessons with the school lessons as well as from a private teacher and through a theory book which he was given at an early age. In 1926, only two years after his graduation from high school he was appointed as a teacher of music at a high school in İzmir. In 1928 he was recognized nationally and received a grant to study in France by the Turkish state. He attended the Schola Cantorum de Paris where he studied composition with Vincent d'Indy, theory and counterpoint with Eugène Borrel, organ with Edouard Souberbielle and Gregorian chant with Amédée Gastoué. He was further introduced to late-romantic music and French impressionism. During this time his imagination flourished, enabling him to write his first large work for orchestra: Divertimento. This piece won him an award in 1931 in Paris and was performed with great success the same year in Poland, Belgium and former USSR. In 1931 he returned to Turkey as a music teacher for a new establishment found by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk that aimed to train music teachers with respect to the new law of arts.

3. Works : In 1934 he was appointed as the conductor of the prestigious Presidential Symphony Orchestra. That very same year Atatürk approached SAYGUN, asking him to write the first Turkish opera. As SAYGUN was a huge follower of Atatürk he accepted his offer with great warmth and in two months time finished writing the first Turkish opera, Özsoy.

4. Ulvi Cemal ERKİN (1906-1972) Born on March 14, 1906 in Istanbul, Ulvi Cemal ERKİN graduated from Galatasaray College. He passed the examination and was sent to Paris, France by the state in 1925. After five years there, he studied at the École Normale de Musique, where he was a student of Nadia Boulanger. Upon his return to Turkey in 1930, he became a teacher of harmony and piano at the Music Teachers' College in Ankara. During this time, he also finished his first compositions, which he had begun during his time in Paris. In 1932, he married the famous pianist Ferhunde ERKİN, who was a piano teacher at the same school and who had performed nearly thirty piano concertos in Turkey for the first time. In 1942, he won the Arts Award of the Republic People's Party with his piano concerto, He wrote the famous Keke Orchestra suite the same year. In an interview, he said that Alfred Cartot gave him the idea of composing a piano concerto during his visit to Turkey. The same piano concerto and Keke suite was premiered by the Presidential Synphony Orchestra in 1943. On the reguest of Ambassador Franz von Papen, the piano concerto was performed in Berlin, Germany in 1943. ERKİN was awarded with the Palm Acadamique, Lgion d’honneur chivalarous and offical degrees, and the Italian Republic Medal. He was named a state artist by turkey in 1971 and was awarded a medal ofhomor by the Sevda Cenap and MusicFoundation in 1991. A postage stamp commemorating his life was issued by the Turkish postal system in 1985. Up until his death, ERKİN taught classes in piano and composition at the State Conservatory, which he had directed from 1949–1951.

5. Works : İki Dans (Two dances, 1930), Konçertino (1932), Karagöz (1940), Köçekçe (1943), Birinci Senfoni (First symphony, 1944-46), Keman Konçertosu (Violin concerto, 1947), Keloglan (1950), Ninni, Emprovizasyon ve Zeybek Türküsü (Lullaby, improvisation and Zebyek folk song, 1929-1932), Keman ve Piyano için Yayli Çalgilar Dörtlüsü (String quartet for violin and piano, 1935-36), Duyuslar (Impressions, 1937) and Piyano Besli (Five pieces for piano, 1943).

6. Cemal Reşit REY (1904-1985) Cemal Resit REY was born in Jerusalem on September 25, 1904. His father was governor of Jerusalem, and was one of the writers taking part in the "Edebiyat-i Cedide" (new literature) trend. After the Babiali Raid, REY and his family were forced to settle in Paris, where he began his musical education at the Paris Conservatory. Here, he studied piano with the famous pianist Marguerite Long. Forced to leave Paris by WWI, he continued his education at the Geneva Conservatory. In 1919, he returned to Paris, where he continued with Madame Long, as well as beginning the study of composition and aesthetics of music with Gabriel Fauré, and conducting with Henri Defosse. In 1932, he was appointed to the Istanbul Conservatory as a piano and composition instructor. Chosen for membership in the International Union of Composers in 1926, REY went on in 1943 to found the first string orchestra in Istanbul. He directed this ensemble, which in 1945 became the City Orchestra, and later took the name Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, until 1970. One of the pioneering founders of the Philharmonic association in Istanbul in 1946, REY also served as director of and consultant to the Ankara and Istanbul Radios from 1938-1949. In 1985, the year of his death, He was appointed "artist professor" at the Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory. REY's compositions were influenced at first by impressionism, and later by westernized forms of Turkish folk music and even by mystic and Divan music.

7. Works : 12 Anadolu Türküsü (12 Anatolian folk songs,1925), Enstantaneler (1931), Symphonic Poem; Karagöz (1930), Opera; "Cem Sultan" (1923), Zeybek (1926), Çelebi (1943), Musical Play; Lüküs Hayat (1933), Deli-Dolu (1934), 1st Symphony (1941), Piyano Concerto (1946) and Variations on an Old Istanbul Folk Song (Kâtibim) (1961).

8. Hammamizade İsmail DEDE EFENDİ(1778-1846) Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi (1778-1846) was a composer of Turkish classical music. He was born on 9 January 1778, in Istanbul, Şehzadebaşı. He started studying music with Mehmed Emin Efendi, at the age of eight. He attended rituals at Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi, a place of Mevlevi gathering. He studied with Ali Nutki Dede and learned to play ney, in Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi. He became "Dede" in 1799. Dede Efendi's music was well appreciated by Sultan Selim III and then he performed his works at the palace. He had composed hundreds of songs and mevlevi rituals. In 1846 he pilgrimaged to Mecca, but in Mina contracted cholera and died. His grave is now in Mecca. Dede Efendi gave lessons in Turkish music to Hamparsum Limonciyan who developed the Hamparsum notation, the dominant notation for Turkish music. One of the greatest Turkish composers, he has created masterpieces in all forms and modes of Turkish music. He has also developed the composite musical modes of "sultanî yegâh", "nev-eser", "saba-buselik", "hicaz-buselik" and "araban kürdî". His greatest works are the seven Mevlevi pieces for Samah. More than two hundred of his compositions are available today.

9. Works : Rast Semai: Yine bir gülnihal aldı bu gönlümü Hicaz köçekçe: Şu karşıki dağda bir yeşil çadır Rast: Kar-ı Nev Gözümde daim hayali cânâ Hicaz Yürük Semai: Yine neş'e-i Muhabbet etti dil-ü canım etti şeyda Hüzzam Yürük Semai: Reh-i Aşkında edip kaddimi kütah gönül Ferahfeza Yürük Semai: Bu gece ben yine bülbülleri hâmûş ettim Hicaz Semai: Ey büt-i nev-edâ olmuşum müptelâ

10. İdil BİRET (21 Kasım 1941-…..) İdil BİRET was born 21 November 1941 in Ankara, Turkey is a Turkish concert pianist. BİRET began her lessons at the age of five with Mithat Fenmen. When she was seven, the Turkish parliament enacted a special law which enabled her to study abroad, studying at the Paris Conservatory in France under the tutelage of Nadia Boulanger. She continued her education with Alfred Cortot and Wilhelm Kempff. From the age of 16, BİRET played as a soloist with the most distinguished orchestras in the world including the London Symphony, the Philharmonia, the London Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Leningrad Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France and the Sydney Symphony. She collaborated with the eminent conductors such as Hermann Scherchen, Pierre Monteux, Erich Leinsdorf, Rudolf Kempe, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Aaron Copland, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Charles Mackerras, Jean Fournet, Moshe Atzmon, Antoni Wit and Hiroyuki Iwaki. BİRET also gave concerts at the festivals of Berlin, Montreal, Istanbul, Dubrovnik, Montpellier, Nohant, Persepolis, Royan and Athens. She has been a jury member at several piano competitions: Van Cliburn (USA), Queen Elisabeth Belgium), Montreal (Canada), Liszt (Weimar, Germany) and Busoni (Italy).

11. Works : Her numerous recordings (more than 80 today) for labels such as EMI, Decca, Atlantic, Finnadar and Naxos include the world-premiere recording of Liszt's transcriptions of the nine Beethoven symphonies (EMI 6LP/1986), complete solo piano works and concertos of Chopin (15CD/1992), of Brahms (12CD/1997), Rachmaninoff (10CD/2000) and the piano transcription of Stravinsky’s ballet music The Firebird (2003) and many others. BİRET's wide repertoire encompasses much of the late Classical and Romantic piano literature. She is probably best known for her Chopin recordings, which won her the prestigious 'Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin' in Poland in 1995.