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DERYA TURKAN
Derya Turkan began his formal studies at the
age of 11. Since then, his enormous talent and sincere dedication
to Turkish music has led him to gain fame world-wide, performing
at concerts from Japan and Tunisia, and from Harvard University to
Sorbonne. His various recordings, in addition to "Letter from
Istanbul", include "Ahenk" with tanbur player
Murat Aydemir and "Chemins" with renowned Turkish
musician Kudsi Erguner.
Born in Istanbul in 1973, Derya Turkan grew up
in a musical family and his first music lessons were with the
well-known Turkish cellist Firat Kiziltug. He attended and
graduated from the Turkish Music Conservatory Instruments
Education Department of the Istanbul Technical University, where
he studied with Ihsan Ozgen, an internationally recognized Turkish
musician. In 1990, Turkan was invited to perform as a guest
musician by the Turkish Cultural Ministry's Istanbul National
Turkish Music Ensemble, directed by Necdet Yasar. In 1993, he
worked as a guest musician at Turkish Radio Television, Istanbul
Radio division for one year, where he earned outstanding praise.
Turkan worked alongside such master musicians as Alaeddin Yavasca,
Bekir Sidki Sezgin, Niyazi Sayin, and Erol Deran. During this
time, he performed at many concerts both nationally and
internationally with well-known groups such as the Necdet Yasar
Ensemble, and Ihsan Ozgen's Anatolia Ensemble.
Derya Turkan has given many concerts in the
U.S., France, Germany, Finland, Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium,
Poland, Greece, Israel and many other countries in addition to his
native Turkey. In 1996, he performed with Turkish ney player Kudsi
Erguner at Yehudi Menuhin's 80th birthday celebration concerts,
organized by French President Jacques Chirac, as an invited
musician. Turkan also has toured and recorded with Kudsi Erguner's
various ensembles.
He is dedicated to continuing the style of his
teacher Ihsan Ozgen and of Tanburi Cemil Bey.
SOKRATIS SINOPOULOS
Sokratis Sinopoulos also began his love affair
with music from an early age, studying with kemence masters Ihsan
Ozgen and Ross Daly. He has performed with Ross Daly's Labyrinth
Ensemble, with Greek demotika and rebetika groups, as well as
taking part in a variety of other concerts and recordings. His
diverse repertoire spans many genres, from Turkish and Byzantine
classical music to western jazz, and he has also composed scores
for both theatrical and modern dance performances.
Sinopoulos was born in Athens in 1974. He
studied classical guitar with B. Gratsounas and theory of western
music with M. Adami, while taking lessons in Byzantine music and
demotic (folk) song, initially at S. Karas' school and then at I.
Tsiamoulis' where he sang with the school's children's choir. In
1988 he started studying kemence (politiki lyra) and lavta (politika
laouto) with Ross Daly and a year later he joined his group
Lavyrinthos. In 1990 he represented Greece in a world conference
of young musicians in Paris.
In the last ten years, Sinopoulos has
collaborated with composers, musicians and singers from Greece and
abroad in various genres, from song to jazz, participating in
countless concerts and recordings and helping re-introduce the
kemence in Greek music. He was recently honored with the Melina
Mercouri national award for young artists.
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