Copyright © 2022 Istanbul Piano Festival

1.Career Development Seminar  

“Vision of meeting any challenges”

An exploration of how to create a successful music career for Classical musicians in 21st Century. Participants will be educated, inspired and personally mentored as they hone their innovative and creative skills as well as identify their goals in music. Topics include: Preparation of an artist’s portfolio, Recognising professional opportunities, How to program repertoire for concerts, competitions, and auditions, How to write engaging program notes, Forming a Chamber Music group, Finding freelance work, Developing professional networking strategies, marketing, promotional plans, and publicity skills, and Exploring opportunities outside of Concert Halls. This unique online seminar is offered every afternoons by different guest artists in the festival.

Meet Gloriosa Piano Trio, Unique Chamber Music Ensemble, comprising a Steinway Recording Artist on piano, a winner of the International Tchaikovsky Violin Competition, and the Principal Cellist of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, USA

Meet Barrett Hipes, Saxophonist/Percussionist, Dean for Student Development at the Juilliard School, USA

Meet Rachel Christensen, Director at Career Services & Entrepreneurship Office at The Juilliard School, USA

Meet Sean Hickey, Composer, Senior Vice President in Sales and Business at Naxos of America, Managing Director of Pentatone recording label, USA

Meet Jahye Kim, Pianist, President of Hudson Fine Arts Foundation, Executive Director of Union City Philharmonic Orchestra, South Korea

Meet Karen LeFrak, Composer, Vice Chair of Board of New York Philharmonic Orchestra, USA

Meet Matthew Oberstein, Conductor, Vice President at Opus 3 Artists, Music Director at Southern New Jersey Philharmonic Orchestra, USA

Meet Theodore Wiprud, Composer, Vice President of New York Philharmonic in Education, USA

2.Conducting Seminar

Learning conducting helps a pianist become a well-rounded musician. Participants will learn to increase their rhythm skills, and gain a deeper understanding of dynamics and expression. Being a pianist can be a lonely pursuit; learning to play with an ensemble can provide a pianist with additional musical and social skills.

Meet Isin Metin, Conductor at Bilkent University, former Artistic Director of Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Turkey

3. Performance-Helpful Physiology Seminar

As musicians, we experience the continuous increase in instrument-technical demands and often perfectionistic expectations from the audience. This may tighten up our minds and bodies. We all are familiar with performance anxiety, stress, and chronic pain in our daily music-making. In our precisely designed physiology sessions, pianists will learn to realize that we are able to control and influence our own anxiety, stress, tension, and ways to prevent performance injuries.

While striving to develop perfect technique, musicians can experience a tightening of both their minds and their bodies.  This can lead to performance anxiety, stress and chronic pain — in music making and in daily life.  Our Physiology Seminar sessions will help Festival participants learn to overcome these problems when they occur, and well as how to avoid them in the first place.

4.Unique Lunch – Social Hours – Listen & Learn

All participants will have a chance to speak with artist faculty members during lunch hour. This is a perfect opportunity for young artists to meet their mentors in a social setting. The participants will learn from how to prepare competitions and auditions to how to find performance opportunities.

5. Excursions in Historical Parts in Ankara

Turkey has hosted the most important cultural civilizations of the world is also nestles various natural beauties besides the historical wealth. In Ankara, the capital of the country, every neighborhood carries different geographical characteristics and has its exclusive cuisine and colors. The participants will be invited to tour Ankara Citadel, the historical old part of the city. The citadel castle walls have been built with marble and red Ankara stones which entirely carries the characteristics of traditional Turkish architecture.

Near the Citadel, the participants will visit one of the oldest residential areas of the town is called Eski Ankara (Old Ankara). The houses are mostly wooden and mud brick, converted to traditional Turkish restaurants, antique, carpet, craft stores. The participants will be fascinated by variety and tastes of herbs, and spices, and sweets.

After touring Old Ankara, the participants will see the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations(“Museum of the Year in Europe”) and M. Rahmi Koc Museum, dedicated to the history of Transport, Industry and Communications. The participants will enjoy the traditional Turkish dinner with beautiful panorama and sunset at an old Turkish mansion restored to a restaurant.