Aykut Köselerli

He was born in Ankara in 1985. In 2000 he was accepted to the Percussion Department of the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts of Bilkent University. He first studied with Aydın Mecid, one of the prominent percussion instructors at Bilkent University. He joined in 2001 Bilkent Youth Symphony Orchestra where he was granted the status of guest performer at Bilkent Symphony Orchestra a year later. He completed his secondary education with a high degree and studied toward his bachelor's degree in percussion in 2003 at the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts of Bilkent University. In June 2004, he joined the Anatolian Youth Orchestra as a percussionist, which was set up by world-renowned piano composer Fazıl Say. This was followed by a series of concerts he gave at home and abroad. By the time he completed his bachelor’s degree with an honorary degree, he had already found the opportunity to play in many important orchestras such as l'Orchestre National d'Île de France, Orchestre National Montpellier, Resident Orkest, Züricher Kammerorchester, New Japan Philharmonic, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester and Borusan İstanbul Philharmonic Orchestra. During all this time he performed with important maestros namely Rauf Abdullayev, John Axelrod, Gürer Aykal, Howard Griffith, Jan Latham-Koenig, Antonio Pirolli, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Emil Tabakov, Roberto Fores-Veses and Johannes Wildner. In January 2013 he took up his current position as a percussionist at the Samsun State Opera and Ballet Orchestra and since then he has been performing in the world premiers of recent compositions of Fazıl Say, such as 4. Piano Concerto (June, 2005), “Patara” ballet suite (February, 2006), “Hayyam” Clarinet Concerto (July, 2011), “1001 Nights in the Harem” Violin Concerto (Soloist / February, 2008),“İstanbul” Symphony (Soloist / March, 2010), “Hezarfen” Ney Flute Concerto (Soloist / March, 2012), “Mezopotamya” Symphony (June, 2012) and still performs in these compositions during tours across Turkey and abroad.