Şirin Pancaroğlu (born 1968) is a Turkish

harpist The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual string (music), strings running at an angle to its sound board (music), soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing ...

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

Franghiz Ali-Zadeh Franghiz Ali Aga Kïzï Ali-Zadeh (born 28 May 1947) is an Azerbaijani composer and pianist of contemporary classical music, chairperson of the Composers Union of Azerbaijan. Her music synthesizes Western classical modernist techniques with the ...

, Jeeyoung Kim, Ricardo Lorenz, 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 Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

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. She grew up in Turkey, Switzerland, Indonesia, and the US. She studied harp at the Geneva Conservatory with Catherine Eisenhoffer and received her Diploma in 1988. She completed her formal education studying with Susann McDonald at the

Indiana University School of Music The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music. It has more than 1,500 students, approximately half of whom ar ...

where she received a

Master of Music The Master of Music (MM or MMus) is, as an academic title, the first graduate degree in music awarded by universities and conservatories. The MM combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization (usually performance in singing or i ...

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 Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

in Washington, D.C., the Wolf Trap in Virginia,

Konserthuset The Stockholm Concert Hall () 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 Orchestra. It is also wh ...

in Stockholm, Sejong Cultural Center in Seoul, Takemitsu Memorial Hall in Tokyo, the

Kings Place Kings Place is a building in London's King's 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 form ...

in London, the Atatürk Cultural Center and the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall 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, () is a cultural event held every June and July in Istanbul, Turkey. It offers a selection of European classical music, ballet, opera and traditional music performances with the ...

, 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 (TSO) is a Japanese orchestra, administratively based in Kawasaki. The orchestra offers subscription concert series at its home, the Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall and at Suntory Hall, the Concert Hall of the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, ...

, 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 ( Turkish: ''Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi'', often simply referred to as YTU or Yıldız) is a prominent public technical university dedicated to engineering and natural sciences, as well as social sciences recentl ...

’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 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, but also has a layered corporate structure. Today best known for concert harps, the company's Chicago headquar ...

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 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.tr - Official SiteYoutube videoRadikalIstanbul.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pancaroglu, Sirin 1968 births Living people Musicians from Ankara Turkish classical musicians Women harpists Jacobs School of Music alumni Turkish harpists Academic staff of Yıldız Technical University