Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation Music Scholarships

The Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation provides support to outstanding young musicians who are doing advanced training abroad. For the 2019-2020 academic year, the foundation is providing scholarships to 15 young musicians, raising the total number of students who have benefitted from this scholarship program to date to 138.

The Foundation congratulates the scholarship winners and wishes them success in the musical studies and career.

2019-2020 Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation Music Scholarship Recipients

Alara Acar / Harp
Alara Acar began studying the harp in 2006 under the direction of İpek Mine Sonakın at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Istanbul State Conservatory. Through the Erasmus program, she attended the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, where she performed in numerous chamber music and solo concerts. In 2015, after completing he Erasmus program, she was accepted to Wiemar's undergraduate program and studied with Andreas Whrenfennig. In 2018, Alara Acar received a Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation music scholarship to do graduate work at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt-Weimar. In 2019-2020, she will be studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock.

Kardelen Buruk / Viola
Kardelen Buruk started her musical training at the age of eight and completed her secondary school work at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Istanbul State Conservatory. In 2014, she enrolled in the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, and in 2018, she completed her undergraduate degree and entered the university's graduate program under the tutelage of Prof. Mikhail Zemstov. In 2018, Kardelen Buruk's viola duo "Black Büyü" premiered their original musical theatre score entitled "Moonwalk". During the 2018-2019 academic year, Kardelen Buruk was a Cohort member of the Global Leaders Program and traveled to Chile to participate in music programs for poor communities. A second-time recipient of a Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation Music Scholarship, Kardelen Buruk is writing her graduate thesis on how to reach out to marginalized communities.

Sesim Bezdüz / Violin
Sesim Bezdüz began her musical training at the Mersin State Opera and Ballet Children's Choir and her violin training at the age of six at the Mersin University State Conservatory. In 2012, she was accepted by the Royal Conservatory in Belgium but chose to study instead at the Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory with Ildiko Moog. In 2018, her chamber music group won first prize in the M. Horlait Dapsens Chamber Music Competition. Sesim Bezdüz took part in the Gustav Mahlr Youth Orchestra during the summer of 2019 and will continue her masters studies with Prof. Krzysztof Wegrzyn at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover in the 2019-2020 academic year.

Deniz Ayşe Birdal / Çello
At the age of 14, Deniz Ayşe Birdal was accepted into Mozarteum University's conservatory for talented children, the Leopold Mozart Institut für Hochbegabtenförderungüstün. She was the institute's first cello student. In 2015, she won second prize in the International Johann Andreas Stein Violin Competition with a performance that included her own composition, “Sky-cut”. In 2018, after graduating from the Leopold Mozart Violincello Department of Augsburg University's Philosophy and Social Sciences Faculty, she was accepted in the same university's graduate program as a student of Prof. Julius Berger. This is the second year that Deniz Ayşe Birdal will receive a Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation music scholarship. She is also supported by the ÇEV Young Talent Program. During the 2019-2020 academic year, in addition to her studies at Augsburg University, Deniz Ayşe Birdal will work with the cellist and composer Prof. Giovanni Sollima at the Roma Santa Cecilia Academy.

Barış Çelik / Double Bass
Barış Çelik began his musical studies at the age of 10. In 2015, he entered the Istanbul University State Conservatory, where he studied first with Onur Özkaya, then with Ulaş Rıfat Akyel. He has performed with the Istanbul University State Conservatory Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Ramiz Melik Aslanov and Murat Cem Orhan. He will begin graduate studies at the Luzern Hochschule in the 2019-2020 academic year.

Erdem Delibaş / Trombone
Erdem Delibaş began his musical training at the age of eight and entered the Dokuz Eylül University State Conservatory in 2010. During his 2015-2016 academic year, he auditioned for the Young Soloist program and was awarded a solo with the Izmir State Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed in a number of concerts on Greek islands with the Turkish-Greek Orchestra and is a solo trombonist in the Turkish Brass Ensemble. Erdem Delibaş graduated from the Izmir Dokuz Eylül University State Conservatory with the second best overall score. A 2018 recipient of 2018-2019 the Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation music scholarship, Erdem Delibaş is in his second year of graduate studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock.

Deniz Esen / Harp Deniz Esen began her professional harp training in the Dokuz Eylül University State Conservatory high school. Upon her graduation, she was accepted by the Conservatorio Statale di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi” in Torino and began her studies with Gabriella Bosio. In 2017, she won first prize in the European Music Competition Città di Moncalieri. In 2018 she successfully auditioned for the Italian Conservatories Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, she graduated with the highest possible score from her conservatory and was accepted into the same university's graduate program.

Ezgi Göktürk / Piano
Ezgi Göktürk started her professional piano studies in 2007, at the age of 10, at the Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory. In 2012, she performed Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Piano Concerto No 3 with the Hittite Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2014, she won third prize in the 9th Pera Piano Competition and in 2015, first prize in the same competition's duet category. In 2015, she performed live at the International Bela Bartók Festival and Symposium. In 2017, she studied at the Helsinki University of Arts Sibelius Academy as an Erasmus student. At the end of the Erasmus program, she decided to continue her studies at the Sibelius Academy, where she is studying piano with Erik T. Tawaststjerna and Antti Siirala and chamber music with Paavo Pohjola.

Nora Heder / Viola
Nora Heder began her musical training in 2005 at the Istanbul University State Conservatory, and graduated from there with the highest possible grade. Throughout her undergraduate studies she played alongside numerous viola virtuosos and toured with the Doğuş Children's Philharmonic Orchestra. For three years she has been the lead violist of the Istanbul State Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and, since October 2018, a member of the Aşkın Ensemble. Nora Heder will do her graduate studies at the Hochschule Für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendellsohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig, where she will study with Tatjana Masurenko.

Aslıhan Keçebaşoğlu / Composer
Aslıhan Keçebaşoğlu began her piano training in 2007 at the Antalya State Conservatory. She continued her studies in the Theory-Composition Department of Bilkent University's Faculty of Music and Stage Arts, from where she graduated with honors. Her duet for piano and viola was performed at the 8th Young Composers Festival at the Kadıköy Süreyya Opera House, and her composition for piano, flute and cello, at the 9th. Aslıhan Keçebaşoğlu was one of two people accepted in the graduate program for composers at Helsinki Sibelius Academy for the 2019-2020 academic year.

İdil Kutay / Opera
İdil Kutay started her training with Pınar Yıldırım Finke, the first voice teacher at the Mimar Sinan Conservatory. She studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the voice class of Maria Acda, where she received the outstanding grade of 9.5/10. During the last two years of her undergraduate training she studied with Lenie van den Heuvel and Catrin Wyn-Davies. In 2019, she won second prize in the The Alīda Vāne International Singing Competition in Latvia and was accepted into the Dutch National Opera Academy’s master's program.

Türkü Su Dilan Özkaya / Piano
Türkü Su Dilan Özkaya completed her undergraduate studies with high honors at the Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory. In the 2016-2017 academic year, she was an Erasmus student at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold. During that time, she took part in her professor's “Pianissimo” event, for which only one student is selected. A 2018-2019 recipient of the Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation music scholarship, Türkü Su Dilan Özkaya is continuing her studies with Prof. Peter Nagy at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart.

Ömer Berk Taraklı / Clarinet
Ömer Berk Taraklı began studying the clarinet in 2007 at Bilkent University's Music Prep School. In 2013, he was accepted in the Music Department of Bilkent University's Faculty of Performing Arts. In the 2014-2015 academic year, he passed the entrance exam for Nice Sophia Antipolis University's Music Department and studied with Prof. Dr. Michel Lethiec. Ömer Berk Taraklı has performed in the TRNC Presidential Symphony Orchestra as lead clarinetist and with the Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra. A 2018-2019 recipient of the Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation music scholarship, Ömer Berk Taraklı is doing his graduate work at the Helsinki Sibelius Academy in the clarinet class of Harri Maki.

Sabahattin Emre Türktopu / Oboe
Sabahattin Emre Türktopu began studying the oboe in 2009 at Mersin University State Conservatory, then entered the Dokuz Eylül University State Conservatory undergraduate program. In 2017, he was accepted in the French-Hungarian-German International Symphonic Orchestra and played in some of Europe's most important concert halls as the lead clarinetist. In 2018-2019, he attended the Conservatorio della Svizzera in Lugano as an exchange student in the Swiss-European Mobility Program. In 2019, he was accepted in the Conservatorio della Svizzera's graduate program where he will study under Prof. Fabien Thouand, a world-famous virtuoso and lead clarinetist of Teatro alla Scala.

Sevgi Varol / Bassoon
Sevgi Varol started her musical training in 2004 in the Ministry of Culture State Polyphonic Children's Choir under the direction of Dr. Ahter Destan. For five years, she played in the Doğuş Children's Symphonic Orchestra. In 2013, she performed with the Turkish-German-French Youth Orchestra. That same year, she was accepted by Bilkent University's Music and Performing Arts Faculty, where she completed the bassoon program with high honors and as the top student of the faculty as well as her department. A recipient of a 2018 Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation Music scholarship, Sevgi Varol is continuing her graduate studies at Zürich Arts University as a student of Matthias Racz.