Huseyin Sermet
Born in Istanbul, Hüseyin Sermet began to study music at the age of 7.
In 1965, he was admitted at the Conservatoire in Ankara. He worked with Ferhunde Erkin, Cemal Erkin at Adnan Saygun, famous Turkish musicians and compositors.
In 1968, the Turkish government gave him a State grant that allowed him to continue his studies at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Paris where he was awarded a first prize in Piano, Chamber music, counterpoint and musical analysis.
He studied composition with Olivier Messiaen and, at the Ecole Normale de Musique of Paris, with Thierry de Brunhoff. He also studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, then Maria Curceo in London.
Hüseyin Sermet won a lot of international competitions : the Munich music chamber international competition (1974), the Lili Boulanger competition (1974) and in composition in 1975, the third prize of the Maurice Ravel competition (1975), the special prize of SACEM (1975), the Paloma O’Shea competition (Santander, 1976), the special prize Eduardo Casanuevo (1976), the Jaen International competition (1981), the Ettore Pozzoli competition (1981), the Francesco Paolo Neglia competition (1983), the Geza Anda competition (1985).
In 1975 his composition for string quartet was awarded “Lili Boulanger Prize”. His piece “Rêve et Cauchemard » (Dreams and Nightmares) for orchestra composed as ordered by Tokyo Symphony Orchestra was created in 2004. "Sculptures" had its first world creation in May 2006 in Istanbul.
Hüseyin Sermet played in most of the most important European cities : Milan, Venise, Bologne, Lisbonne, Barcelone, Valence, Zurich, Londres, Bruxelles, Amsterdam, Paris (Champs Elysées theater, Gaveau, Pleyel) etc… and in Mexico, United States and Japan.
He was invited by a lot of International Festivals : Santander, Brescia, Bergamo, Yokohama, Istanbul, Cervantino (Mexico), Printemps des Arts de Monte Carlo, Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, playing notably with Mstislav Rostropovitch, Youri Bashmet, Maria Jao-Pires, Michel Portal, Ruggero Raimondi…
He played with : the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne, the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the « Orchestre de Bordeaux Aquitaine », the Paris Orchestra, the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the « Orchestra da Camera del Festival Internazionale di Brescia e Bergamo », the Philharmonic Orchestra (Krakow), the Philharmonic Orchestra of Monte Carlo, the English Chamber Orchestra, the N.H.K Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Nipon Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Moscow Radio Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk, under direction of : Alain Lombard, Lawrence Foster, Seymon Bychkov, Ferdinand Leitner, Antal Dorati, Philippe Bender, Lorin Maazel.
In 1988, he was called Doctor Honoris Causa at Bogazici University in Istanbul and in 1991, state artist. In 1999, he was called Doctor Honoris Causa at Marmara University.
Hüseyin Sermet gives master classes in various countries such as Turkey (Istanbul State Conservatory, Music Faculty of Bilkent University in Ankara) in Japan (Tokio, Yokohoma, Kyoto French Music Academy, in France Nice Summer Academy and (Musicals Ajaccio) in Spain (Palma de Majorque) and in Korea (Seoul) .
Among his CD s produced by ERATO, AUVIDIS, HARMONIA MUNDI and NAÏVE AUDIS , Schubert’s Pieces for four hand piano was interpreted by Maria Joäo Pires (ERATO), Alkan’s “Oeuvre pour Piano”, R.Hahn’s Pieces for two pianos and four hand piano, F.Schmitt’s Symphonie Concertante payed by Monte Carlo Orchestra, Ravel’s pieces for piano, and several others were all awarded the Diapason d’Or or 5 Diaposons.
