Turkish Classical and Sufi Music Concert

Mehmet Koray Arısan began his musical education with the TRT Ankara Radio Children’s Choir. He graduated from the Piano Department of Adana Anatolian Fine Arts High School and later completed his degree in Music Education at Gazi University. He worked as a contracted artist at TRT Ankara Radio and has performed in numerous concerts in Türkiye and abroad. Having shared the stage with many distinguished musicians, most notably Cinuçen Tanrıkorur, Arısan has pursued his artistic career for more than 30 years. He currently teaches in London while continuing to perform and promote Turkish music on international platforms.

Eray Cinpir was born in Bursa, Türkiye. His musical journey began with the ney and continued at the Dilek Sabancı State Conservatory of Selçuk University in Konya. In 2013, he joined the Konya Turkish Sufi Music Ensemble of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as a vocalist and won first place in an international vocal competition the same year. After completing his master’s degree at Gazi University, he began his doctoral studies in Ethnomusicology at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. During this period, he also taught vocal performance and repertoire at various state conservatories. He has appeared in over a hundred programs on TRT channels as a vocalist, ney player, and presenter. Representing Turkish music on international stages, he has performed concerts and conducted workshops in more than twenty countries. Having also served as a project coordinator in several ministry productions, he has taken part in numerous traditional Turkish music albums. He currently serves as a Vocal Artist and Assistant Artistic Director at the Istanbul Meydan Meşkleri Ensemble of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Professor Dr Serda Türkel Oter graduated from the Department of Turkish Classical Music at Selçuk University State Conservatory (1997–2002). Between 2002 and 2004, she lectured at Dicle University Turkish Music State Conservatory and performed as a soloist at TRT Diyarbakır Radio. She received her MA from Fırat University in 2005 and her PhD in Turkish Religious Music from Ankara University in 2011, focusing on melodic and semantic structures in Turkish music. She later joined Gazi University Turkish Music State Conservatory, where she served as Head of the Voice Training Department and Assistant Director before being promoted to Associate Professor in 2014 and to full Professor. Her research focuses on form analysis, prosody, and style in Classical Turkish Music, and she is the author of Voice Training in Turkish Music (2013). As a performer, she has appeared in numerous concerts and cultural projects in Türkiye and abroad, including the United States, Japan, China, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, collaborating with TRT and the Turkish Ministry of Culture. She has also served as a visiting scholar at UCLA and taught at Codarts University in Rotterdam.

Associate Professor Tolga Oter was born in Ankara in 1977, where he also completed his primary and secondary education. He graduated from the State Conservatory of Selçuk University in 2002 and worked as a lecturer at the State Conservatory of Dicle University between 2002 and 2003. During the same period, he performed as an ud player at TRT Diyarbakır Radio. In 2003, he joined the Selçuk University State Conservatory, where he had previously studied, as a lecturer. He earned his master’s degree in Turkish Art Music from Selçuk University’s Institute of Social Sciences in 2007. In 2011, he was appointed to the Turkish Music Conservatory of Gazi University, and in 2016, he completed his Ph.D. in Turkish Music at Gazi University’s Institute of Fine Arts. That same year, he was invited by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to spend six months attending doctoral-level courses in Ethnomusicology and Middle Eastern Music. Tolga Oter has performed as an ud soloist in numerous concerts both in Türkiye and abroad.