Assoc. Prof. Nağme YARKIN

Biography

            Nağme Yarkın, who has been teaching at Istanbul University State Conservatory since 2012, was born into a fully musician family. She is an active performer, composer and educator. With her instrument traditional “Kemençe of Istanbul”, in many different cities and countries such as; Monte-Carlo, Istanbul, Milan, Pavia, Camini, Tunisia, Monte-Negro, Crotia, Albania, Belgium, Boston, Indianapolis, Washington DC, Edmonon (Ca), London, she had solo concerts or with the bands she established with her brother, jazz & tango pianist Baturay Yarkın.

            When she was 3 years old, started to study piano. In addition to her primary school education, in 1990 at the age of 5 years old, she was accepted at the “Istanbul University Conservatory” piano department.

            In 1996 she started the Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Turkish Music State Conservatory. She selected as her main instrument “Kemençe of Istanbul" (the Classical Kemençe / Lyra) and she has been playing this instrument since the age of 11 years old. During her secondary education, she had a lot of concerts in school and various concert halls primarily in Istanbul.

            In 2003, she started to study at the Composition Department at ITU Turkish Music State Conservatory. Furthermore, in 2005, she started as a Kemençe performer at TRT Turkish Music Young Ensemble. Moreover, she was qualified to go to Estonia with the Erasmus Program in 2008. She studied a semester at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. While she was there, she gave some conferences about Turkish Music and concert. After she graduated from ITU Turkish Music State Conservatory, she started to teach in the same university.

            In 2009 she started a Master degree at the Istanbul University State Conservatory at the composition department and graduated with a thesis in “Film Music and Differences in Interpretation”. Moreover, she completed her Ph.D. in the same department on 2019 with a thesis in Concerto Grosso with Turkish Ensemble as the Concertino Part. Also she had been a Research Assistant and a Kemençe performer in the Turkish Music Orchestra of the Istanbul University State Conservatory since 2012. She has been working as an Associate Professor since 2022 in this institution, where she has been working on a permanent basis since 2012.

            In 2014 and 2015 she played with Andre Rieu 3 concerts in “Andre Rieu World Tour”.

            In 2016, her brother pianist Baturay Yarkın and she established the world music group “Yarkın Duo” and they had many concerts in Turkiye, USA, Georgia, England, Monaco, Monte-Negro, Albania, Crotia, Italy and The Netherlands. Their albums; One (2017), Colours of Anatolia (2019), Quintessence (2020), 

            In 2017 they have accepted to Silkroad Global Musician Workshop in Indianapolis and they played with Wu Man, Shane Shanahan, Bassam Saba, Guru Sandeep Das, Edward Perez, Mike Block. Also they had invited by Silkroad Global Musiciand Workshop in 2018 to give concert and two workshops about Turkish Music. Moreover, in April 2018 they gave concert at Boston University and they gave workshop “Makams, Scales, Forms and Rhytmic Patters in Turkish Music” at Berklee College of Music.

            In February of 2018 (for a semester) she went to Italy / Pavia to study about her Ph.D. thesis on 'Concerto Grosso for Turkish Traditional Instruments and Orchestra' whereby she is also composing new pieces of music related to this subject. She studied with Prof. Ugo Nastrucci about her thesis and she gave workshop about Turkish music too. In 2019, she graduated from DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) on Composition department at Istanbul University State Conservatory.

            Her five personel albums; One (2017), The Colours of Anatolia (2019) and Landscapes (2019), Quintessence (2020), Zeybek of Freedom (2022), Dancing at Göbeklitepe (2022) are available on music markets and digital platforms. Her academic studies, concerts and compositions still continue and her solo Kemence album, Yarkin Duo’s album and Quaertet’s album recording has just finished and will be released soon.

            Nağme Yarkın, who became Associate Professor in April 2022, taught theory, performance and history of our traditional culture and music on the international platform, upon the invitation she received in the 2022-2023 season in the field of Ottoman/Turkish music at the Alberta University Music Department in Canada.