Levent Çoker (born 1958) is a Turkish musician, arranger, conductor and composer who represented

Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest Turkey has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 34 times since its debut in 1975. Since the introduction of the semi-finals in , Turkey has only failed to qualify for the final once, in . Turkey won the contest once in , and hosted the co ...

as a composer, arranger and conductor in 1996 and 1997. His song "

Dinle Turkey took part in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997. The country was represented by Şebnem Paker and Grup Etnic with the song "Dinle" written by Mehtap Altıntemiz and composed by Levent Çoker. Both Şebnem Paker and Levent Çoker had represe ...

" won 3rd place in

Eurovision Song Contest 1997 The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ) and prese ...

and was the country's best result since it began participating in the Contest, and remained so until 2003, when soprano pop star

Sertab Erener Sertab Erener (born 4 December 1964) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. With her coloratura soprano voice, she started working as a backing vocalist for Sezen Aksu, and with Aksu's help she released her first studio album in the 1990s ...

attained the top spot. A native of the northwestern

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

city of

İzmit İzmit () is a district and the central district of Kocaeli province, Turkey. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. As of the last 31/12/2019 estimation, the c ...

, the administrative center of

Kocaeli Province Kocaeli Province ( tr, Kocaeli ili, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province of Turkey and one of only three not to have the same official name as its capital, İzmit, which is thus also sometimes called Kocaeli. The province is the successor of the ...

, Levent Çoker graduated in 1971 from

Ankara State Conservatory The Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory ( tr, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Ankara Devlet Konservatuvarı), the first conservatory to be founded in the Republic of Turkey, was established in 1936 by a directive of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Th ...

, having studied musical performance with emphasis on playing the

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

. He has been a member of

Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra The Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra ( tr, İstanbul Devlet Senfoni Orkestrası or İDSO) is a Turkish symphony orchestra based in Istanbul. Founded in 1945 as the Istanbul Municipality City Orchestra, its first principal conductor was Cemal Reş ...

since 1979 and has composed for opera and ballet as well as for symphony orchestras and bands, along with winning several national music contests.

Works

* ''Hayal Yolcuları'' '' he Dream Passengers' (ballet) * ''Senfonik Süit'' '' ymphonic Suite' * ''Fanfare for Brass and Percussion'' * ''Keman, Çello ve Piyano için Trio'' '' rio for Violin, Cello and Piano'

External links

Lyrics by Mehtap Alnitenmiz for the 3rd place song, "Dinle" (music composed and conducted by Levent Çoker) at the ''1997 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC)'' websiteLevent Çoker capsule biography at the ''Türk Tromboncular'' website

References

Turkish composers People from İzmit 1958 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Ankara State Conservatory alumni {{Turkey-musician-stub Eurovision Song Contest conductors