We recently connected with Sueda Catakoglu and have shared our conversation below.

Sueda, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents helped me to follow my passion. I decided to be a performer at the age of 7, which was not a common thing in my hometown in Turkey. It was not easy to find good music teachers, however they did find an excellent teacher- who also taught me composition and harmony besides piano. She prepared me for the conservatory exams in Turkey where I officially started my performing arts education at the age of 12. My mum and dad also encouraged me a lot to study abroad when I got accepted to study at the Barenboim Said Akademie in Berlin. I had a strong existential crisis during my studies in Berlin. I was trained to be a concert pianist and I had everything that a musician could enjoy the life, I was playing concerts in great venues in Europe and collaborating with excellent musicians. However, something was missing. Besides being a classical pianist, I was also an improviser and had huge passion for jazz and improvised music traditions. Playing the classical music pieces were never satisfying for me. At that point, I remember my dad telling me that I should find a way to start learning jazz since Berlin is a great hub for contemporary and jazz music scene. Therefore, in one of these concerts that I was going to see in clubs, I met my mentor and teacher Oli Bott who is a great composer and vibraphone player. When I started studying improvisation, arranging and jazz harmony with Oli, I improved a lot and my passion and curiosity got even deeper. As a result, I auditioned for Berklee and since then I changed my career completely from being a classical piano virtuoso to a composer, songwriter and jazz musician.

Sueda, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a Turkish artist based in Boston. I recently graduated as a full-tuition scholar at Berklee College of Music, pursuing degrees in Jazz Composition, Jazz Piano, and Contemporary Writing & Production. I have a debut album, featuring interpretations of legendary Turkish singer and songwriter Sezen Aksu’s songs, reflects a blend of Turkish folk music, jazz, musical theatre, and European cabaret. Released through Ahenk Müzik, the album showcases diverse influences I had from classical piano techniques to contemporary jazz approaches. As I switched from being a classical pianist to composer, improviser performer, my educator identity got influenced in a positive way as a result. As an educator, I am able to teach both disciplines classical and jazz piano as well as musical theater. I enjoy this way of teaching a lot while working with my students and I believe that I am able to provide them a broader perspective.

Currently, I am playing some shows in Boston as well as working on my debut EP which will feature three original songs of mine. We hope to release this in the Fall and we will be playing some release concerts following the release.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Personally, this question has a very clear answer for me: it’s the special people that I got to meet- definitely. I always think that how lucky I am that I encountered these inspiring people in my life through artistic collaborations. This had an inevitable positive impact on my lifestyle, mindset and personal growth.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I am trying to preserve my character from the music industry’s competitive environment. My goal and my motivation is to focus on myself and my artistry and develop my humanity and form a strong character as a human through my art. Therefore, I can say that arts is my tool to form a better version of Sueda, i.e. a better human.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://suedacatakoglu.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sueda_catakoglu/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/süeda-çatakoğlu-863b54114/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@suedacatakoglu/videos
• Soundcloud: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1o6Qfb5XRbzKz6w68ihrVQ

Image Credits

Image credit: Sevinc Karagulle
Alexa Silverman