Bülent Evcil

Bülent Evcil, who is recognized as the best flutist in the world by Sir James Galway, started flute training under Prof. Mükerrem Berkat at the State Conservatoire at Mimar Sinan University and graduated with the highest distinction in 1988. He continued his studies under the tuition of Marc Grauwels in the Royal Brussels Conservatoire and graduated with the Diploma Superior avec Grand Distinction for flute, winning the Premiere Prix for chamber music as well. He continued his career with Jean-Michel Tanguy at the Heidelberg-Mannheim Music college in 1994 and obtained the Artistic Education (Künstlerische Ausbildung) degree with the highest distinction in 1996. Bülent Evcil won prizes and awards in various competitions among which were the second prizes in Turkey’s National Wind Instrument Competition, the Wolfgang Hoffmann Wind Instrument Competition and Best Overall Performer Award at the fourth James Galway International Flute Seminar in Dublin, giving him — from 1992 onwards — the opportunity to be Sir James Galway’s student. This world-famous flute virtuoso acclaimed Evcil as one of the best flautists of his generation. Evcil has performed in many concerts with various groups, such as the Kurpfalzische Chamber Orchestra, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, the Istanbul Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Antalya State Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonic Lemberg Chamber Orchestra, the Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra, the Istanbul CRR Symphony Orchestra, the Toulon Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Leonis Chamber Orchestra, the Carmina Quartet, and the Frankfurt Quartet. With these orchestras and ensembles, he performed in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States of America and Ukraine, and took part in music festivals in Bayreuth, Istanbul, Krakow and Lemberg. He played in Vienna with the Imperial Concerts Soloist Kapelle from 1996 to 2006. In 1998, he was appointed to the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Orchestra and also to the Istanbul Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra as solo flautist, with which he still pursues his career as soloist. He teaches at Istanbul Technical University. In 2003, he was appointed principal flute to Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra. He was invited to give master classes in Turkey and in the USA, at the Texas Tech University, at Lubbock, and at the University of Texas at El Paso. In May 2004, he was appointed to play as solo flute in the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra (Italy) under Lorin Maazel and went on a European tour with the same orchestra. This success led to concerts with other international orchestras as a soloist. As principal flute, he made several recordings and concerts with Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (Brazil) and toured Asia with the Italian International Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, he premiered the J. Rodrigos Concerto Pastoral with Turkey’s leading orchestras. This concerto is recognized by experts to be the most difficult flute concerto of all time. Sir James Galway wrote the program notes especially for him for those events. In 2005 he was invited to play two recitals at the 33rd annual National Flute Convention in San Diego, California. He has recorded a CD with Camerata Leonis in Switzerland and is winner of the Royal Belgium Encouragement Medal of Art. In 2006, Evcil held his first international master class — with Maestro Raffaele Trevisani in Premeno, Italy. He played recitals at the Italian International Flute Festival (Falaut) in Milano, at the British Flute Society Festival in Manchester, England.