Iris Şentürker

İris Şentürker was born in Istanbul. She started to play piano at the age of five. She continued her education at the State Conservatory at Istanbul University and graduated from the class of Prof. Meral Yapalı in 1998. She won the first prize in the "young musician in the year" contest, which was held by the British Council in 1998. As a result, she received a grant and went to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. She studied piano with Margaret Fingurhut and on chamber music with Yossi Zivoni, Rodney Slatford and Christopher Rowland and received an MA degree. Besides, this Şentürker worked with famous musicians like Leontina Margulis, Irina Zaritskaya, Hüseyin Sermet, Arnaldo Cohen, and Sergei Dorensky. She received another grant from the Eczacıbaşı Foundation in 2000, and continued her study. In 2001, she gave a concert at the İş Sanat concert hall as one of the best three musicians in the "BBC soloist contest", which was held by İş Sanat. She has given many chamber concerts and recitals in Istanbul, Ankara, Mersin, Adana, Edirne, Kocaeli and Balıkesir in Turkey, and Hungary, Pakistan, France, England, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Japan. She participated in the 24th Istanbul International Music Festival, Boğaziçi Music Festival, and the first and second Cemal Reşit Rey Youth Festival. She has given many piano solo concerts with the State Symphony Orchestra and chamber orchestra. She gave the concert with Hüseyin Sermet, one of the Turkish State artists, and played his work for the first time in Turkey. She received a grant from the French government and studied piano with Prof. Christian Ivaldi at the class of Diplôme Superieur d’Execution and chamber orchestra from Prof. Chantal De Buchy at the class of Diplôme Superieur de Musique de Chambre in Alfred Cortot Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. She graduated from those branches with degrees. Later, she continued to study piano as well as chamber orchestra at the class of Diplôme Superieur de Concertiste. She received the first prize at the competition of the chamber orchestra in the Alfred Cortot Concours Diplômes Superieurs de Concertiste, Paris, 2005. She has been teaching at the state conservatory in Mimar Sinan University and continues solo concerts and recitals as well as activities of the chamber orchestra Quadro Turco.