Salih Can Gevrek, piano
Salih Can Gevrek, born in Turkey, began taking piano lessons at the age of five. When he was seven, he was admitted to the Faculty of Music and Drama Preparatory School at Bilkent University in Ankara. He continued his studies at Bilkent University with Gülnara Aziz until 2011, after which he furthered his education at the Royal College of Music in London. He completed his Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music under Dmitri Alexeev and is active as an associate artist at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel.
He has already won numerous international competitions. At the age of ten, he was awarded a prize at the International Young Pianists Competition at Eskisehir-Anadolu University. His success continued with a second prize at the Lubomir Pipkov International Piano Competition in Bulgaria. Furthermore, he was a laureate of the Moscow State Conservatory International Piano Competition and won first prize at the Kamuran Gundemir Piano Competition. He also received the ‘Selcuk-Kamuran Gundemir’ Special Prize with a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra. Recently, he won first prize at the Gumusluk International Piano Competition, as well as third place and the Special Scriabin Prize at the Concours International de Piano de Lyon in France.
As a soloist, he has already performed with the Belgian National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, (INSO) Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Ankara Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Presidential Symphony Orchestra. He has also given solo recitals at international music festivals such as the Granada International Music Festival in Spain, Bolzano Piano Festival, the Fondazione Bertarelli’s Amiata Festival in Pisa, the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad in Switzerland, Villa Musica in Mainz, the International Antalya Piano Festival, Music Above the Park Festival in Madrid, Sala Argenta at the Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria, Santander, the ‘Three Choirs Festival’ in Worcester, and the Bosch Young Classical Musicians Festival. His solo recital for the International Ankara Music Festival 2011 was highly praised and broadcast live on national radio in Spain and Turkey. Salih has performed on prestigious stages such as the Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall at the Royal College of Music, as well as Brussels’ BOZAR and Flagey, Lviv Philharmonic Hall, Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, for the inauguration of the ‘Arabesque’ Piano for Steinway’s 160th anniversary at Steinway Hall, Joseph Joachim Concert Hall in Berlin, and Salle Molière in Lyon.
He has also performed chamber music with Miklos Pereyni, Mate Szucs, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Boris Garlitsky, Alexander Huelshoff, Avo Koyoumdijan, and Júlia Pusker.
In the Netherlands, he recently won the audience prize at the Schiermonnikoog Festival and the festival prize at the Oranjewoud Festival, first prize at the ‘Eurasian Stars’ International Piano Competition in Astana, and an exceptional achievement award at the Dubai Classic Piano International Piano Competition.
Salih benefits from a scholarship offered “in memoriam” by M. Hugo del Bosque & Mrs. Godelieve Callebaut