Bilkent Musicians Win Awards
FMPA Alum Wins Brahms Award
Osman Özgür Ünaldı, Faculty of Music and Performing Arts graduate, won second place in piano in the 17th International Brahms Competition, held in Pörtschach, Austria, on September 5 to 12. Ünaldı is the first Turkish artist who has won this award in piano.
Osman Özgür Ünaldı was born in 1984. He started piano training with Prof. Seçkin Gökbudak at Konya Selçuk University in 1991. In 1998, he received a fellowship and studied piano with Gülnara Aziz at the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts at Bilkent University. During his study at Bilkent University, he won many awards in numerous national piano contests. In 2004, Ünaldı was one of six finalists in the 15th International Piano Contest held in Rome. He has attended many master classes and worked with notable pianists such as Sebastian Benda, Dimitris Sgouros, Michael Markov, Kamerhan Turan, Robert Roux, Micheal Roll, Walter Groppenberger, Muhittin Dürrüoğlu Demiriz, Daniel Gortler, Aaron Shorr, Hüseyin Sermet, Kemal Gekic, Stefan Gutman and Gülsin Onay.
In 2006, Ünaldı performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra. In the same year, he graduated as "the best of the Department and Faculty" from FMPA. In 2007, he enrolled in the doctoral program in the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow. Currently Ünaldı continues piano study with Prof. Irina Plotnikova. Recently he won several prizes in national and international competitions. Ünaldı has given several recitals in Turkey and abroad. He has also played with many orchestras.
Elman Mecid, 14, Wins in Italy
Elman Mecid, 9th-year student in the Bilkent Music Preparatory School, won two prizes at the internationally revered "Giornate della Percussione." Mecid won the first and second place prizes in two different categories in this highly competitive contest.
Organized by the Percussive Arts Society of Italy in cooperation with the Conservatorio di Musica G.B Pergolesi, this year's competition was held in Fermo, Italy from September 3 to 12.
Among the jury were Neboisa J. Ivkovic, Ruud Wiener, Kevin Bobo, Peter Vulperhorst, and John Beck.
Born in Ankara in 1996, Mecid started his education in 2002 at the Bilkent Faculty of Music and Performing Arts Music Preparatory School. Mecid has given many concerts in Turkey. He won the first prize in his category at the "Pendim" International Percussion Competition held in Bulgaria in May 2009. Afterwards he performed with the Plovdiv Symphony Orchestra.