Erhan Birol

Erhan Birol was born in Istanbul in 1973. In his childhood, he started guitar training with his father Ertan Birol, who is a professor at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Birol continued guitar with Bülent Ergüden during his high school and university years. In 1993, he left Yıldız Technical University, Machine Engineering, where he studied for 2 years. He entered the State Conservatory of Istanbul University, and studied with Bülent Ergüden. In 1994, he entered the Guitar Department in the Faculty of Music at Bilkent University, and continued guitar study with Kürşad Terci, who is the member of the Bilkent Guitar Trio. Later, Birol became a member of the Bilkent Guitar Trio. He also had the opportunity to study with Kağan Korad and Soner Egesel. He has attended classical guitar festivals at Iserlohn and Istanbul Technical University, and took part in the closing concerts. Birol has attended the master classes of notable guitarists such as Thomas Müller, Tillmann Hoppstock, Alirio Diaz, Celin Romero, Danielle Cumming, David Russel, Andrea Vettoretti and Matthew Grief. Birol taught in the program “Education in early stage” at Bilkent University. He also taught at Işık University and Bakırköy Music Foundation. In 2001, Birol entered Mimar Sinan State Conservatory Classical Guitar Department as a graduate student.

In 2001, he played Turgut Pöğün’s “4:4 Versus?” with the Modern Music Orchestra, which was conducted by Kamran İnce. Birol also performed Turgut Pöğün’s “Makine Bozuluyor mu?”, which was given second prize in the Guitar Composition Contest at Yıldız Technical University. In 2004, he played Eray Altınbüke’s “Kumdaki Kan for Cello, Violin and Guitar". He gave a concert in Akbank Culture and Art Center. He also gave a violin and guitar recital with Hakan Şensoy. In 2005, Birol performed with soprano Ece İdil in the Nazım Hikmet Culture Center for the Anniversary of Poet Ahmet Altınel at Bilgi University. In the same year, Birol gave over 30 concerts at schools in Ankara at the instance of Muzaffer Eryılmaz, who was the mayor of the Çankaya Municipality. In 2006, Birol participated in the visibility project of Galata Perform. He also played Özge Gülbey’s “Tres referencias al musica” with pianist Metin Ülkü at the Mediterranean Contemporary Music Festival. The following year, he founded the Duoist with Tolgahan Çoğulu. Currently, he serves as a lecturer of classic guitar at the Guitar Department at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, and continues to perform as a member of the Duoist which gives many concerts.

Reference: muzik.tevitol.k12.tr, duoist.com