Elif Akyar & Hyun Sook Tekin

The Pharos Arts Foundation, with the kind support of Lexus Cyprus, presents a violin and piano recital with two extremely talented young musicians – violinist Elif Akyar from Istanbul and Korean pianist Hyun Sook Tekin. The recital will take place on Thursday 7 October 2013, at The Shoe Factory, Nicosia, 8:30pm, and will include works by Jean Marie Leclair, Cesar Franck, Henryk Wieniawski, Camille Saint Saens, as well as the Cyprus premiere by Turkish composer Adnan Saygun and the world premiere by Cypriot composer Andreas Tsiartas.

ELIF AKYAR / VIOLIN
Elif Akyar was born in Istanbul. She began her violin studies at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University with Yusuf Güler Aksöz, the concertmaster of the Istanbul Symphony Orchestra. After graduating with the highest degree in 1993, she continued her studies with the State artist Ayla Erduran. In year 2000, she completed her Doctor of Music degree with the famous Russian violinist Victor Pikaizen at the Hacettepe University Conservatory in Ankara. Victor Pikaizen is the student of David Oistrakh, and he has had a very strong influence on Elif’s technique and musicality. Akyar actively participated in master-classes by renowned artists, such as Lewis Kaplan, Ken Haki and Lukas David, and she has been a founding member of the Istanbul Quartet.

Elif Akyar is currently an associate professor at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. She is also a founding member, and since 2003, she has been the concertmistress of the CRR Symphony Orchestra – one of the 3 major symphony orchestras in Istanbul and named after the famous Turkish composer Cemal Resit Rey. Leading an active career as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, Akyar has collaborated with several conductors and artists like Fazil Say, Igor Oistrakh, Shlomo Mintz, Maxim Vengerov, James Galway, Teddy Papavrami, Alexander Rahbari, Antonio Pirolli, Howard Griffiths, Ionescu Galati, Rengim Gokmen.

HYUN SOOK TEKIN / PIANO
Hyun Sook Tekin was born in Daegu, South Korea. Her musical studies began at the age of six when she started to receive private tuition in piano. Having won the first prize on several occasions in the Young Pianist Competition in Daegu, she achieved the highest mark in the entrance examinations of the Kyung Pook National University – College of Fine Art and Music and consequently gained the Special Scholarship of the Rector. There, she studied with Prof. Jung and graduated with Bachelor Degrees in both Piano and Music Pedagogy. During her university years she collaborated as a pianist with several opera societies, such as Opera Young Nam at Daegu, and performed in various chamber ensembles. Most of these concerts were broadcasted by Korean Television.

In 2000, Hyun Sook Tekin moved to Germany where she trained in Berlin under Prof. Kupfernagel and in Leipzig under Prof. Erber. She furthered her studies with the renowned Prof. Klaus Schilde, who was a pupil of Walter Gieseking and Marguerite Long, in the Hochschule für Musik-Franz Liszt in Weimar, from where she graduated with a Masters degree. She also studied Chamber Music with Prof. Beetz (Abegg Trio), and actively participated in master-classes with Prof. Mishory (Freiburg), Prof. Schirmer (Mannheim), Prof. Kehrer (Zürich), Prof. Mia Paul (North Texas Univ.) and performed in excellent participants’ concerts.

Between 2004 and 2010 she continued her piano studies as a doctorate student at MIAM, Istanbul Technical University (ITU), in Turkey with the Ayşegül Sarıca and completed her PhD thesis on Robert Schumann’s miniature piano pieces which are related to literary ideas under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Cihat Aşkın and Prof. Judith Uluğ.
Since 2008, Hyun Sook Tekin has been performing regularly in the Marmara Flute Trio and Chamber Music Ensemble. She has appeared as a soloist in Europe, Korea and Japan, more recently, as part of the Afyon Music Festival, the Verona Piano Festival, the Contemporary Music Festival (ITU) and St. John Classical Music Festivals. Hyun Sook Tekin has participated in international music symposiums and she is currently working on several articles about musical symbolism. She is currently Assistant Professor at the Marmara University.

PROGRAMME:
Jean Marie Leclair Sonata for violin in D major, Op.9 No.3
Cesar Franck Sonata for violin and piano in A major
A. Adnan Saygun Folkloric Dances Op.33
Henryk Wieniawski “Legende”, Op.17
Camille Saint Saens “Havanaise”, Op.83
Andreas Tsiartas Sonata for violin and piano “In Stylus Fantasticus”

Tickets: €15 Adults / €10 Members of the Foundation, Concessions
Box Office: Tel. 7000-9304 (daily 9.30-11.30am) / www.pharostickets.org