Levent Çoker (born 21 November 1958) is a Turkish musician, arranger, conductor, and composer who represented

Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest Turkey has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 34 times since its debut in . The Turkish participating broadcaster in the contest is (TRT). Turkey won the contest once in , and hosted the contest in Istanbul. Since the introduction ...

as a composer, arranger and conductor in 1996 and 1997. His song " Dinle" won 3rd place in

Eurovision Song Contest 1997 The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the 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 presented by C ...

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. Born in the northwestern

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

n city of

İzmit İzmit () is a municipality and the capital Districts of Turkey, district of Kocaeli Province, Turkey. Its area is 480 km2, and its population is 376,056 (2022). The capital of Kocaeli Province, it is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea ...

, the administrative center of

Kocaeli Province Kocaeli Province (, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey and one of only three not to have the same official name as its capital, İzmit, which is thus also sometim ...

, Levent Çoker completed his primary education in

İskenderun İskenderun (), historically known as Alexandretta (, ) and Scanderoon, is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Hatay Province, Turkey. Its area is 247 km2, and its population is 251,682 (2022). It is on the Mediterranean coas ...

in the south of Turkey. In 1971, he enrolled at the

Ankara State Conservatory The Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory (), the first conservatory to be founded in the Republic of Turkey, was established in 1936 by a directive of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The conservatory is part of Hacettepe University. History ...

to study musical performance with an emphasis on playing the

trombone The trombone (, 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 lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

. He was a member of

Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra The Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra ( 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 Reşit Rey and Dr.Mehmet Muvaffak Goren. In ...

from 1979 to 2009 and has composed for opera and ballet as well as for symphony orchestras and bands, along with winning several national music contests.

References

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' * Beşinci Mevsim / 1996 Eurovision Song Contest entry of Turkey, performed by

Şebnem Paker Şebnem Paker (born 20 July 1977) is a Turkish people, Turkish guitarist, singer and music teacher.

, finished 12th * Dinle / 1997 Eurovision Song Contest entry of Turkey, performed by

Şebnem Paker Şebnem Paker (born 20 July 1977) is a Turkish people, Turkish guitarist, singer and music teacher.

, finished 3rd

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

20th-century Turkish composers 21st-century Turkish composers Turkish male composers People from İzmit 1958 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Ankara State Conservatory alumni {{Turkey-musician-stub