Background
He was introduced to music by his mother who was a ballet dancer before her marriage.
He was introduced to music by his mother who was a ballet dancer before her marriage.
His music communicates with vernacular idioms through a diversified sound plane. His earlier works reveal influences of Saygun, Usmanbaş and Ligeti (in rhythmic and contrapuntal design), at times progressing through aleatoric sections (in orchestral works). Later works combine newer timbral concerns with maqamic pitch content, microtones and elements of folk music (ornamentations, vocal and instrumental practices, etc).
Born in Mersin, a Mediterranean city in Southern Turkey.
His family moved to Istanbul in 1971. He started private piano lessons with Hülya Saydam in 1980, his first compositions appeared in 1981.
He entered at the Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory’s composition department in 1984. Became a student of Erçivan Saydam (harmony and counterpoint), Adnan Saygun (composition, modal music and fugue) and Afşar Timuçin (history of thinking, literature and aesthetics).
After his graduation in 1991, he was appointed as an instructor in the same institution.
Between 1991-1996 he was a student in the composition class of İlhan Usmanbaş. Earned his master’s degree in 1994, pursued qualification in arts studies until 1996. From 1996 to 1999 he studied at Boston University with Lukas Foss and Marjorie Merryman.
Upon finishing his doctoral studies at Boston University, he returned to Turkey and began to teach composition at his native institution, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory in Istanbul.
At present he is a faculty member in the same institution.