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Bachelor’s degree/Masters/ Doctorate:
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DMA: Composition, University of Michigan, 2012;
Master of Arts: Composition, İTÜ, 2008;
Bachelor of Arts: Business Administration – Boğaziçi University, 2005
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Biography:
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Recep Gul is a composer, pianist and singer. He was born in Samsun, Turkey in 1982. His composition teachers have included Bright Sheng, Evan Chambers, Kamran Ince, Paul Schoenfield and Pieter Snapper. Starting from his high school years he studied piano, and during his university years he studied singing and composition. After moving to Istanbul for his university education, he conducted Bogazici University Classical Music Choir, sang in various choirs and founded an a capella jazz group where they released the first a capella Jazz album produced by Kerem Görsev in Turkey. With his group, Recep performed in various concerts and festivals including Istanbul Jazz Festival. Upon completion of his undergraduate education, he earned his masters degree in composition at the Istanbul Technical University – MIAM (Center for Advanced Studies in Music) In 2008, he was accepted to the University of Michigan Composition Program with full scholarship and earned his doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Bright Sheng. With the help of his varied background, in his music he tries to use elements of Jazz, Turkish folk music, classical and contemporary music. His music has been performed in various new music festivals and concerts in Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and the United States. Recep Gul’s chamber ensemble piece “A Given” got performed at the Midwest Composer’s Symposium, and his solo cello Piece “Two Colors” - performed by cellist Paul Dwyer - was released by M-Block records. His orchestral work “Wedding of Attis” was played by Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin and was premiered by the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra. In 2011 he was awarded the Rackham Pre-Doctoral Fellowship and the Institute for the Humanities Graduate Student Fellowship at the University of Michigan. His work, “The Exchange”, a cantata based of the testimonies of the refugees of the 1923 Greco-Turkish Forced population exchange, was premiered at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. After returning to Istanbul he started working with his vocal group again and he released an album “Eurasian Tales” in 2014, for which he performed and arranged the compositions of Fazil Say. This album was released by “Equinox Music” and was commissioned and supported by Fazil Say. In 2015 his piece for orchestra “Don’t leave me without letters” was commissioned and premiered by Bilkent Symphony Orchestra for the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli War. In 2017, “Rhapsody Alla Turca” for flute and piano was performed in Galway International Music Festival” by Aslihan And. In 2018 he was awarded 2nd. Prize in the Culture of Ministry Polyphonic Choral Works Composition Competition and his cantata “The Exchange” was performed as part of European Cultural Heritage program. In 2019 he we the 2nd prize and audience award with his piano quartet “The Journey” in Süreyya Opera National Composition Competition. He is currently teaching at the Istanbul Technical University Conservatory. He is also worjing as the musical director of the vocal group “A Capella Bogazici” and head of Music Commision in the Foundation of Choir Culture.
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