Founding Members / Cihat AŞKIN
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Prof. Cihat AŞKIN Cihat Aşkın was born in İstanbul. At a very young age, he was enrolled in a conservatory by his parents who explored his interest in music. Having a successful education due to his extraordinary skill and disciplined studies, Aşkın graduated from Prof. Dr. Ayhan Turan’s class. Performing his first recital at the age of 12, Aşkın could play all of the Paganini Caprices by the time he was 15 years old. He continued his music education with Rodney Friend at Royal College of Music and with Yfrah Neaman at The City Univercity in London. After some short-term studies with the masters Ruggierro Ricci and Dorothy Delay, Aşkın returned home having finished his master’s and doctoral program studies. He became an Associate Professor and later Professor in 1998 and 2006 respectively, at İstanbul Technical University (İTU). Continuing his academic duties and artistic activities as the founder and co- head of Graduate School of Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM), at İTU, since 1999, Aşkın was appointed to be the Directorate of the Turkish Music State Conservatory in October, 2008. Recognized and introduced as one of the prominent violin virtuosos by music authorities, Aşkın has shared the same stage with world-renowned musicians including Cobos, Dmitriev, Yoel Levi, Shlomo Mintz and Ida Haendel. He has given concerts at many art centres and attended festivals around the world: America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa. He has been invited to act as a judge at international competitions carried out in countries such as Bulgaria, Serbia, Poland, Israel, and Switzerland. Aşkın, who is a virtuoso of Kalan Müzik, performed the first CD recordings of concertos by our esteemed composers U. C. Erkin and N. K. Akses. He has made recordings of both Modern Turkish pieces and many other pieces which were composed by Aşkın. His album titled Kreutzer 42 Etüd, released in 2006, was the world’s first violin literature. He has made musical arrangements for violin and other instruments, works for films and has performed recordings on television and radio. He has worked with Warner Classics and CPO companies as well as Kalan Müzik. Having received many awards from competitions including Menuhin and Flesch, Aşkın was deemed worthy for the awards of Roma Foyer des Artistes and The J. F. Kennedy Center For the Performing Arts – Gold Medal in 2002 and 2009 respectively. He has started to give national and international concerts to fulfil today’s need for qualified music by founding The Istanbul Chamber Orchestra and Aşkın Ensemble in March 2007. Actualizing his project named Cihat Aşkın and Little Friends (CAKA), in 2004, in order to convey his experiences to next generations, Aşkın has started to organize violin master classes and mini concerts to support music education and to improve the talented children waiting to be discovered throughout Turkey. Moreover, he has been working as a faculty member of Keshet Eilon. Violin Master Classes in Israel since 1999. Yalçın Tura, Ertuğrul Oğuz Fırat, Arda Ardaşes Agoşyan and Oğuzhan Balcı dedicated the violin concertos that they composed to the artist who was honoured as “The Violinist of This Land” by the press. The artist plays Jean- Baptiste Vuillaume (1846) and Joseph Gagliano (1796) violins in his concerts. |
