Lect. Kadri Göker BÜYÜKGÖNENÇ

I started my music education at the then-called Istanbul Municipal Conservatory in 1978 following elementary school. That same year, I started French horn lessons with Saim Kalafatogˆlu, solmization with Assist. Assoc. Prof. Mine Mucur, and piano with Prof. Lale Feridunoğlu. I took part in a masterclass by Gerd Seifert, the French Horn soloist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1983. In that same year, I joined the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra as a guest musician and played there for many years as well as in the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Orchestra intermittently.

I finished secondary and high school sections of the Conservatory 1986 in French Horn and Piano, and qualified for the university section of my school, which was now a part of Istanbul University, and I skipped one year because of my advance knowledge and skills. I studied French Horn under Hüseyin Çoşkun, French Horn section principal in the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Ertuğrul Köse, assistant French Horn section principal in the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, and Ertuğrul Tunalı, French Horn section principal in the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Orchestra. I studied composition and harmony under Prof. Emel Çelebioğlu, chamber music under Prof. Ergican Saydam, and orchestra under one of Turkey’s best known conductors Prof. Erol Erdinç. In my last year in university, I started working with Andrew Hurrel, British hornist, conductor and composer, who was a student of world-renowned hornist Ifor JAMES.

I passed Istanbul University’s Artist Lecturer and Post-graduate Studies exam following my university graduation in 1990. I started playing in the Istanbul University State Conservatory Wind Instrument Orchestra as first hornist under conduction of world-famous conductor Eugeni Samailov, as well as working as his assistant and being tutored by him in partition reading and conduction. I took counterpoint lessons from Mete Sakpınar for some time. My post-graduate dissertation topic was “Technical and Musical Analyses of Horn Concertos by Richard Strauss and W. A. Mozart” and my dissertation professor was Andrew Hurrel.

I have worked in Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Istanbul University State Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Dutch Chapel Orchestra, Milli Reasurans Chamber Orchestra, Borusan Chamber Orchestra, Saim Akçıl Chamber Orchestra, International Augmented Black Sea Chamber Orchestra, German Voglant Sinfonietta among others. I have played concerts with Musical Group and other music ensembles in various countries around the world.

I have been working as a lecturer in the French Horn section of the Wind and Percussion Instruments Department of Istanbul University State Conservatory.