Halit Turgay
RECITAL “LEGACY OF ANATOLIA”
Saturday 16th August 10:15
“Crucially important… A born musician” as described by flutist William Bennett
Halit Turgay began his flute education in Istanbul Municipality Conservatory aged 11. In 1987, he completed his BA Degree. He earned his MA (Music) Degree in 1993 and PhD in Music Performance in 2002 at Istanbul University State Conservatory. At 23 he won the Skene Award at the Aberdeen International Young Musicians Festival in Scotland. At the same age he was accepted to the Royal Academy of Music London to the class of William Bennett and he continued his education with the British Cultural Council’s Scholarship.
As a performer Halit has worked with masters like Hüseyin Sermet, William Bennett, Ashan Pillai, Jonathan Leathwood, Yaprak Sandalcı, Lillian Tonella Tüzün, Misha Dacic, Dietrich Bethge, Massimo Bianci and Yekaterina Lebedeva. He performed as a solo flutist with many orchestras such as I Musici di Roma, Artemisa Chamber Orchestra, Savaria Symphonic Orchestra, London Octave Chamber Orchestra. He had gained admiration in many international events including in Paris, Nice, Cannes, Marseilles, Moscow, Toulouse, Sofia, Athens, Bruges, Budapest, Beijing and London.
As a composer, Halit’s composing style contains elements of history, archaeology, and mythology. He made important contributions to Turkish culture and repertoire especially with works dedicated to various regions of Turkey. In 2014 he won the Second Prize in the the 4th International Mersin Music Festival National Composers’s Competition.
He won the 1st prize from the British Flute Society (BFS) (2021) in the UK and the National Flute Association (NFA) (2022) in the USA with his work titled Aegean Whispers. In 2024, Apollo & Marsyas (for Solo Flute) and Meditarrenean Trio (Flute, Cello & Piano) were awarded Honorable Mention by the NFA. (USA)
Turgay, who started teaching at the Istanbul University State Conservatory in 1989, has made great contributions to Turkish flute education with the success of his students as educators. He established the Halit Turgay Flute Summer School, which he has been organizing since 2003. He has been living in China (Tsinghua International School/Symphony Academy) as a flute and chamber music teacher for the last 1.5 years. In addition, Turgay, who continues to work in his country and internationally as a composer and flutist, also carries out academic studies in his field as a Professor Dr. at the Maltepe University Conservatory in Turkey, Italy and France.
Socials & Links
