Ferhunde Erkin (née Ferhunde Remzi) (June 8, 1909 – July 11, 2007) was a Turkish pianist born 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, ...
. Ferhunde Remzi started her first lessons in
Bandırma
Bandırma () is a city in northwestern Turkey with 161,894 inhabitants as of 2021 on the Sea of Marmara. Bandırma is a district of Balıkesir Province. Bandırma is located in the south of the Marmara Sea, in the bay with the same name, and is a ...
with her father Ali Remzi Yiğitgüden's guidance when her brother Necdet Remzi Atak started violin lessons.
Ferhunde and Necdet later took lessons from several teachers in Istanbul, but mostly from Karl Berger. They gave their first recital in
Galatasaray High School
Galatasaray High School ( tr, Galatasaray Lisesi, french: Lycée de Galatasaray), established in what was then Constantinople and is now Istanbul, in 1481, is the oldest high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational in ...
on March 20, 1920 when Istanbul was under occupation after the end of World War I.
With the advice of a music teacher,
Von Kleibiner, Ferhunde and Necdet applied and received the
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, p ...
Foundation scholarship and went to
Hochschule für Musik und Theater in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
. They finished the three-year school in two years and graduated in 1930.
Upon their return to Turkey both started as teachers at
Musiki Muallim Mektebi
Bamboo steamers, called ''zhēnglóng'' () in Chinese,it originated in Han Dynasty．
The most famous kind of bamboo steamers are used in Chinese cuisine and date back to 5,000 years in Southern China. They are produced by removing the skin from ...
(Music Teachers School) on April 7, 1931. Ferhunde Remzi met
Ulvi Cemal Erkin
Ulvi Cemal Erkin () (March 14, 1906 – September 15, 1972) was a member of the pioneer group of symphonic composers in Turkey, born in the period 1904–1910, who later came to be called The Turkish Five. These composers set out the direction of ...
on that same day. Ferhunde Remzi and Ulvi Cemal Erkin married on September 29, 1932.
She played in Berlin at wartime in 1943 with Berlin City Orchestra conducted by
Fritz Zaun
Fritz Zaun (19 June 1893 – 17 January 1966) was a German conductor and music educator and since the foundation of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf / Duisburg) in 1956 until his death was its General Music Director.
Zaun grew up in his n ...
.
She played with
Suna Kan
Suna may refer to:
People
*Suuna I of Buganda, king of Buganda until 1609
*Suna II of Buganda, king of Buganda from 1836 until 1856
*Suna Kan (born 1936), Turkish violinist of classical music
* Suna Kıraç (1941–2020), member of the Turkish Ko ...
from 1961 till 1967 on several local and international concerts.
Ferhunde Erkin retired in 1967. Some of her students are
,
Nimet Karatekin, composer
Nevit Kodallı
Nevit Kodallı (12 December 1924, Mersin – 1 September 2009, Mersin) was a Turkish composer of western-influenced classical music including operas and ballets. In 1948 he travelled to Paris where he studied with Arthur Honegger and Nadia Boul ...
,
Bilge Aydın,
Kamuran Gündemir,
Filiz Ali
Filiz Ali (born 30 September 1937) is a Turkish pianist and musicologist.
She studied piano at the State Conservatory of Music in Ankara. Graduating from Ferhunde Erkin's class in 1958, she received a Fulbright scholarship to study in the Unite ...
,
Madlen Saydam,
Tekin Alp Ulusoy and
Zeren Dirim. She made the first playings of 22 piano concertos in Turkey.
Ferhunde Erkin received the
Sevda-Cenap And Music Foundation Honour medal in 1999.
Ferhunde Erkin died in Istanbul, on July 11, 2007.
External links
Ferhunde Erkin official web site
Turkish classical pianists
Turkish women pianists
Turkish people of Circassian descent
1909 births
2007 deaths
Musicians from Istanbul
20th-century classical musicians
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century women pianists
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