Şirin Pancaroğlu (born 1968) is a Turkish

harpist The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orc ...

. She performs both popular-folk and classical pieces. She has premiered pieces written for her by Gerardo Dirié,

Franghiz Ali-Zadeh Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (Azerbaijani Firəngiz Əlizadə, Russian Франгиз Али-Заде; born 29 May 1947 in Baku, Azerbaijani SSR, Soviet Union) is an Azerbaijani composer and pianist, currently living in Germany. She is best known for her w ...

, Jeeyoung Kim,

Ricardo Lorenz Ricardo Lorenz (born May 24, 1961) is a Venezuelan composer and academic. Life and career Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Lorenz earned degrees from both the Conservatory of Music Juan Manuel Olivares and the Juan Manuel Olivares National School of ...

, Hasan Uçarsu and Meliha Doguduyal. In addition, she has been expanding her repertoire by transcribing for harp from an array of musical traditions. Over the years she has collaborated in

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

with violinist Ignace Jang, violist Tatjana Masurenko, flutist Kornelia Brandkamp, harpist Tine Rehling and soprano Ayşe Sezerman, and recently with Israeli percussionist Yinon Muallem, creating an innovative repertoire and commissioning new music for these combinations.

Education and family life

Şirin Pancaroğlu started harp in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. She grew up in Turkey, Switzerland, Indonesia, and the US. She studied harp at the

Geneva Conservatory , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; ...

with Catherine Eisenhoffer and received her Diploma in 1988. She completed her formal education studying with

Susann McDonald Susann McDonald (born May 26, 1935) is an American-born classical harpist. In addition to a successful performing career, she has made a number of recordings and held significant academic and organizational posts. Life McDonald was born in Rock ...

at the

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

School of Music where she received a Master of Music degree in 1992. She is married and has a son named Mengü, born in April 2007.

Performing career

Pancaroğlu has performed at venues such as the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, the Wolf Trap in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Konserthuset The Stockholm Concert Hall ( sv, Stockholms konserthus) is the main hall for orchestral music in Stockholm, Sweden. With a design by Ivar Tengbom chosen in competition, inaugurated in 1926, the Hall is home to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sejong Cultural Center Sejong Center for the Performing Arts is the largest arts and cultural complex in Seoul, South Korea. It has an interior area of 53,202m². It is situated in the center of the capital, on Sejongno, a main road that cuts through the capital city o ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, Takemitsu Memorial Hall in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, the

Kings Place Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space. It has housed the editorial offices of ''The Guardian'' newspaper since December 2008 and is the for ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the

Atatürk Cultural Center The Atatürk Cultural Center ( ), commonly called the AKM, is a concert hall, theatre and cultural centre running along the eastern side of Taksim Square in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. In 2021, it reopened to the public as a state-of-the-art cultural com ...

and the

Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall The Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall ( tr, Cemal Reşit Rey Konser Salonu) is a concert hall located in the Harbiye neighbourhood of Istanbul, Turkey. It is one of the country's major concert halls, being the first one designed for classical music. N ...

in Istanbul. She performed at all the major international festivals in her homeland (

Istanbul International Music Festival The Istanbul International Music Festival, formerly Istanbul Festival, ( tr, Uluslararası İstanbul Müzik Festivali) is a cultural event held every June and July in Istanbul, Turkey. It offers a selection of European classical music, ballet, opera ...

, International Ankara Festival, Yapı Kredi Art Festival, International Eskişehir Festival, Izmir International Festival, International Mersin Music Festival), Imagine New Music Festival in US, Belgrade Harp Festival in Serbia, Festival de la Ciudad de México in Mexico City, the Berlioz Festival, the Chirens Chamber Music Festival, the Semaines Musicales de Villeveyrac and the Trièves Festival in France. In addition, Pancaroğlu was a concerto soloist with the

Tokyo Symphony Orchestra The or TSO, was established in 1946 as the Toho Symphony Orchestra (東宝交響楽団). It assumed its present name in 1951. Based in Kawasaki, the TSO performs in numerous concert halls and serves as pit orchestra for some productions at Ne ...

, the

European Union Chamber Orchestra The European Union Chamber Orchestra (EUCO) is a chamber orchestra with funding from the European Commission, founded in 1981 and initially known as the European Community Chamber Orchestra. The orchestra has toured worldwide and broadcast on BBC R ...

, the Memphis Symphony, Washington Chamber Symphony, the Hermitage Soloists Ensemble, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, the Ancyra Chamber Orchestra, and the Akbank Chamber Orchestra.

Teaching career

Pancaroğlu returned to Turkey in 2000, and has been active as a soloist and teacher. She established the harp class at

Yıldız Technical University Yıldız Technical University ( Tr. ''Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi'', often simply referred to as YTU or Yıldız) is a prominent technical university dedicated to engineering and natural sciences as well as social sciences recently, and is one ...

’s Faculty of Art and Design and created the first-ever non-pedal harp program for children in Turkey in 2004. Invited to teach master classes in Japan, Serbia, Slovenia and in her native Turkey, Pancaroğlu is a published writer on practice techniques for harpists, an area of interest she has also lectured upon at the 9th

World Harp Congress The World Harp Congress is a private nonprofit organization founded in 1981 as an outgrowth of the International Harp Weeks held in The Netherlands for twenty years under the leadership of Phia Berghout and Maria Korchinska. The organization ...

in Dublin. She performs on two

Lyon & Healy Lyon & Healy Harps, Inc. is an American musical instrument manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois and is a subsidiary of Salvi Harps. Today best known for concert harps, the company's Chicago headquarters and manufacturing facility contains a ...

Concert Grand harps made in Chicago in 1960 and 1992.

Recordings

* ''Hasret Bağı'' ("A String of Longing") was released in 1998 on the Kalan Muzik label in Turkey. *''Kuyruklu Yıldız Altında'' ("Under the Shooting Star") features night musics for harp and violin (Ignace Jang, violin) and was released in 2000

Doublemoon Doublemoon Records, founded in 1998 as an offshoot of Pozitif Productions, is an independent pioneering record label based in Istanbul, Turkey, dedicated to spreading the city's music around the world. Doublemoon has concentrated on world fusion ...

Records. * ''Barokarp'' solo release in 2005 (Triolila). * ''Telveten'' ("String and Skin") by Kaf Müzik in 2009. * ''Eski Dünya, Yeni Dünya'' ("Old World, New World") by AK Records in 2010. * ''İstanbul’un Ses Telleri'' (İstanbul’s Vocal Cords) by Kalan Müzik in 2010

References

External links

SirinPancaroglu.com - Official Site

Youtube video

Radikal

Istanbul.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pancaroglu, Sirin Musicians from Ankara Turkish classical musicians 1968 births Indiana University alumni Turkish harpists Living people Academic staff of Yıldız Technical University