Join pianists İdil Ülgen and Joseph Gurt for an afternoon of fantastical piano performances.
Program
Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue by J. S. Bach
Fantasy in D minor by Mozart
Fantasy Opus 49 by Chopin
Polonaise Fantasie Op. 61 by Chopin
-Intermission-
Samba de Concert by Joseph Gurt
Valse Aimable by Joseph Gurt
-Encore Piece-
Anniversary March of the Republic by Cemal Resid Rey (further arranged by Joseph Gurt)
March 30, 2008, Sunday at 4pm
Pease Auditorium, Corner of Cross and College Place Streets
Eastern Michigan University
Online Directions (external link)
Biographies of Performers
İdil Ülgen
Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Idil Ulgen started her music education at the Istanbul University State Conservatory and studied with Prof. Yapali. She later attended the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg, Austria and studied piano with H. Scholz, C. Zecchi, and J. Demus and chamber music with A. Moravec.
She received a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from the Ankara State Conservatory, Turkey, and she was the pianist of the Istanbul Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. Before moving to United States, she was on the staff of the Piano and Theory Departments of the Istanbul University State Conservatory. She studied piano with Joseph Gurt at Eastern Michigan University. She won the first prize at the Graduate Music Award Competition and also at the Concerto Competition at the Eastern Michigan University.
She received Master’s degrees in Piano Performance from Eastern Michigan University and Piano Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Michigan. She studied piano with Prof. Louis Nagel and piano pedagogy with Joanne Smith at the University of Michigan. Currently, she is a member of the piano faculty at Eastern Michigan University.
Mrs. Ulgen regularly plays in solo and chamber music recitals and orchestra concerts in USA, Austria, Canada and Turkey. Recently she played the world premiere of “Fantasy Tango,” composed by Prof. Joseph Gurt and dedicated to Mrs. Ulgen, with the Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra of Michigan and Istanbul Isik University Orchestra of Istanbul, Turkey.
Joseph Gurt
Joseph Gurt, hailed by The New York Times as having “all the assets of a first class pianist,” enjoys a distinguished career as a solo pianist, chamber musician, composer, adjudicator, and teacher. A graduate of The Julliard School of Music, Mr. Gurt has appeared at Carnegie Recital Hall, the Library of Congress, the Library of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, and Detroit’s Orchestra Hall. His performing engagements have taken him to Canada, Australia, Israel, Turkey, Taiwan, Singapore, and many of the fifty United States. Active both as a concert soloist and a chamber musician, he has appeared with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and many other orchestras and chamber music ensembles. He concertizes frequently with his son, pianist Michael Gurt and his daughter, soprano Naomi Gurt Lind. As part of his chamber music concerts for four hands, Mr. Gurt has also played with pianist Idil Ulgen. He has played on numerous local and national radio and television broadcasts, and has an extensive discography. A skilled interpreter of new music, he has recorded William Balcom’s Piano Quartet, Anthony Iannaccone’s Partita for Piano and Two-Piano Inventions, and music by Ross Lee Finney and Leslie Bassett.
Mr. Gurt has served for over thirty years on the Piano faculty of the Eastern Michigan University, recently retiring as full professor. Trained by acclaimed pedagogue Dorothy Taubman, Mr. Gurt is an internationally recognized exponent of the Taubman Technique. He served for many years on the faculty of the Dorothy Taubman Institute of Piano, giving lectures and master classes on several continents. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.