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Dr. Selim Giray was born in Istanbul in 1970. He graduated from Istanbul State Conservatory and Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory, where he studied with Saim Akçıl. As a doctoral candidate at the Florida State University, Giray studied with Eliot Chapo, former Concertmaster of such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic and the Dallas Symphony. Prior to that, in 1992, he was awarded a joint fellowship from the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra and East Carolina University, where he studied with Fritz Gearhart.
Between the years of 2000 and 2003, he taught at Interlochen Arts Camp. As a violinist, Giray has performed extensively in four continents, and has appeared frequently on national public radio and television. He has performed as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. Also an active researcher, he has edited Adnan Saygun′s violin concerto for the Peermusic Classical Europe. In addition, he recorded for the ERM Media with pianist Dr. June Chun. In 2003 Edwin Mellen Press published Giray′s treatise titled A Biography of the Turkish Composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun and a Discussion of his Violin Works. The Minister of Culture of Turkey published the same work in Turkish.
In 2004, the Rotary Foundation awarded Giray with a grant that sponsored him to teach throughout the summers of 2006–07 at Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul International Spectral Music Conference in Istanbul. In the summer of 2006, as part of his teaching, Giray was the only professor to have the honor of giving master classes with the foremost Turkish violinist, Prof. Cihat Aşkın at the CAKA project “Young Friends of Cihat Aşkın”. In addition to his teaching, Giray performed at the 34th International Istanbul Music Festival as a member of Istanbul Chamber Orchestra. He also played as Acting Concertmaster of Istanbul Chamber Orchestra in Islamabad, Pakistan, where he performed in front of an elite audience of foreign dignitaries. During that trip, Giray gave lectures and master classes at Istanbul Technical University, Bilkent University, and Yıldız University in Turkey, and Edison Academy in Germany.
As of today, Giray serves as an Associate Professor of Violin, Viola and Chamber Music at Pittsburg State University. At the same time, he serves as a Principal Second Violin of the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and as a Concertmaster and an Assistant Conductor of The Ohio Light Opera. During his tenure at Pittsburg State University, Giray has recruited international students from such countries as Romania, China, South Korea, and Turkey. Within the years, his students won numerous competitions, including various Concerto-Aria and Chamber Music Competitions, and the coveted American String Teachers Association Solo Competition—Winner of 2006 Kansas Chapter. Giray’s students were accepted to such graduate programs as Yale University, Rice University, the University of Oklahoma, and the Florida State University with scholarships, and some moved on into the professional world and are members of such orchestras as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Kansas City Symphony, Houston Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony.
Most recently, Giray performed "Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso" by Camille Saint-Saëns, and "Poème" by Ernest Chausson with Hays Symphony Orchestra. During the summer of 2008, he visited Asunción, Paraguay for master classes and performed the violin concerto of Emre Aracı with the Camerata Orchestra.
Books and Editions:
• A. Adnan Saygun Violin Concerto Op. 44. Hamburg: Peermusic Classical, 2008. Piano reduction by John C. Ross.
• A Biography of the Turkish Composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun and a Discussion of his Violin Works. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2003.
• Ahmed Adnan Saygun’un Keman Yapıtları: Bir Kemancıya Rehber (Ahmed Adnan Saygun’s Violin Works: a Violinist′s Handbook), Ankara: Ministry of Culture Publications, 2002.
Reference: Wikipedia.org; selimgiray.com
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