We recently connected with Ceren Turkmenoglu and have shared our conversation below.

Ceren, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I am a multi-instrumentalist and composer, with the violin as my main instrument. I started learning the violin around the age of 9, and by 11, I was admitted to the conservatory to pursue my music education. My 10-year-long conservatory education was where I primarily learned to play the violin. However, it was after I graduated and entered the real world that I truly began to develop my craft.

In the conservatory, I underwent a very focused and strict education. We exclusively worked on classical repertoire; different styles of music or improvisation were not part of the curriculum. However, I made significant improvements in my craft when I began to explore beyond classical music and adopted diverse musical approaches.

Improvisation significantly enhanced my flexibility on the violin. Additionally, playing multiple instruments enriched me as a musician. My sense of rhythm improved significantly after I began playing percussion instruments and my understanding of timbre deepened as I discovered different colors of sounds on various instruments. My hearing developed tremendously after I started playing Turkish traditional music, which involves microtones, and incorporating them into my musical vocabulary enabled me to hear with much greater precision. It was like suddenly being able to see many more colors.

In short, when learning a craft, it is essential not to be confined to a single approach. To broaden one’s vision, knowledge, experience, and capabilities, one must stretch beyond the main focus. The obstacles I faced throughout my school years included the strict education system and the goals it imposed. However now, with access to numerous resources in order to develop myself further and experiences I gain along the way, I feel like I have more tools in order to refine my craft.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a musician who wears different hats throughout the week. I work as a violinist in the Ankara State Opera and Ballet Orchestra. The work is intense, as the repertoire we play is often demanding and long. However, I enjoy seeing how different disciplines of art come together and I like working side by side with dancers, singers, instrumentalists, and designers.

Apart from my job at the orchestra, I am a teacher at the Music and Fine Arts University in Ankara. I work in the New Music Ensemble, an ensemble primarily dedicated to performing newly written music, mostly by our composition students at the university. In addition to performing, I also guide students on how to write for string instruments and work closely with them during their composition process.

Furthermore, I am a composer. I work both on commissions and on my own music. My most recent work is the ballet I composed, “Köroğlu.” It is a Turkish ballet based on a folk legend. In this ballet, I used traditional Turkish instruments along with Western instruments, aiming to create a synthesis of Eastern and Western influences. Currently, I am working on a piece that will be performed at the Weltivale music festival in Germany.

I am also a performer of the rebab, a traditional Turkish instrument, and often play Turkish traditional music. I teach rebab to students from around the world. The rebab is an enchanted instrument, dating back to the 9th century. Although it is somewhat forgotten these days, there are still admirers of the rebab worldwide who learn and play this instrument.

Additionally, I am a recording artist, recording on the rebab, violin, viola, and frame drum for my own projects and for others who contact me. I record in my home studio, which I built during the pandemic.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think it is the privilege of touching another person’s heart. This makes all the efforts and struggles worthwhile. The greatest gift I can receive for my music is when someone tells me that my music touched their heart. That connection is so powerful and special. I am grateful to have my music to express myself and be understood through it.

When I was about to release my first album, which included some of my compositions, I felt rather intimidated, as it felt like sharing my diary with the rest of the world. Then I began receiving messages from people from far corners of the world about how they connected with and related to my music. Those exchanges are what fuel my motivation.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

This past fall was a quite difficult time for me. I had taken on the biggest project of my life, and I had a very limited time. The project was composing a one-act, 75-min-long ballet. However, I had just 2.5 months to compose the music, as the dancers needed at least a month to rehearse before the premiere. As usual, there were budget problems and organization issues. In the meantime, I had to carry out my full-time work at the orchestra, my classes at the university, and my chamber music concerts with my ensembles. On top of these, my cat was in need of constant care because of an eye operation. In short, it felt like everything was happening at the same time. I was having many sleepless nights in order to complete the music. In addition to the difficulty of the task, I was putting extra pressure on myself because I was feeling responsible for all the dancers, musicians, designers, and organizers of this project. In spite of all the problems with the timing, planning, and budgeting, I tried to stay focused and complete the music for all the people I felt responsible for. 

It was a compromise to push myself to the limit; however, it was quite rewarding once I realized what I was able to achieve. When the day of the premier arrived, the positive comments from the audience and my colleagues made it worthwhile. It took a long time for me to recover from the burnout, but witnessing how resilient I can be made me realize my strength. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cerenturkmenoglu.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cerenissimo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ceren.turkmenoglu
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cerent/
• Twitter: https://x.com/cerenturkmenogl
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CerenTurkmenoglu

Image Credits

Noyan Özatik, Arda Aktar, Ceren Türkmenoğlu