Hikmet Şimşek (1924, Pervari – 12 October 2001, Ankara) was a Turkish conductor of

Western classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

Life

His father was an officer. He was born in Pervari (of

Siirt Province Siirt Province, (, ; ) is a province of Turkey, located in the southeast. The province borders Bitlis to the north, Batman to the west, Mardin to the southwest, Şırnak to the south, and Van to the east. Its area is 5,717 km2, and its pop ...

). But the family soon moved to

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

. In 1936, he attended to military junior high school. He continued his military training in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. But in 1946, before completing military education, he transferred to Ankara conservatoire where he was trained under Eduard Zuckmayer,

Ferit Alnar Hasan Ferid Alnar (11 March 1906 – 30 July 1978) was a Turkish classical music composer. He was a member of the Turkish Five, in the first half of the 20th century. Alnar is known for his efforts for harmonization of classical Turkish music ...

and

Adnan Saygun Ahmet Adnan Saygun (; 7 September 1907 – 6 January 1991) was a Turkish composer, musicologist and writer on music. One of a group of composers known as the Turkish Five who pioneered western classical music in Turkey, his works show a maste ...

. In 1953, he graduated from the conservatoire with honors.Hürriyet newspaper
/ref> He married painter Nihal Şimşek.

Career

He began teaching in the conservatoire and after 1959 he was appointed as the assistant conductor of the

Presidential Symphony Orchestra The Presidential Symphony Orchestra (; CSO), with headquarters in Ankara, is the presidential symphony orchestra of the Republic of Turkey. Its history dates back as far as 1826, making it one of the first symphony orchestras in the world. Afte ...

(CSO) of Turkey.Biography page
/ref> He kept this position up to 1986.CSO page
He became one of the most popular classic music men: Because he worked hard to publicize classical music by radio programs of

Turkish Radio and Television Corporation The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish: ) is the national public broadcasting, public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio broadcaster in Turkey. Before the introductio ...

(TRT) on Sundays. In these programs, before playing he lectured on the compositions. He also introduced Turkish composers via foreign language services of TRT. In 1981 he received the honorary title of

state artist State Artist (, also sometimes translated as "National Artist") is an honorary title granted to prominent artists by the government of Turkey for their contributions to the Turkish culture. It was established in 1971 by the President of Turkey ( Ce ...

of Turkey. In the 1980s, he released a number of albums with compositions from Turkey. He also took part in the formation of three new conservatoires in Turkey, namely those of İzmir, Bursa and Çukurova conservatoires.

Death

He died on 12 October 2001 in Ankara military hospital where he was taken due to

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simsek, Hikmet Turkish conductors (music) State Artists of Turkey 1924 births 2001 deaths Turkish musicians 20th-century conductors (music)