Muhiddin Dürrüoglu

Turkish-born Belgian composer of orchestral, chamber and piano works that have been performed across Europe and in the USA; he is also active as a pianist.

Mr. Dürrüoglu-Demiriz studied composition and harmonization privately with Kemal Ilerici from 1979-82 and entered the Ankara Hacettepe University State Conservatory in 1980, where he studied piano with Kâmuran Gündemir, Ersin Onay and Ilhan Baran from 1981-87.

He then studied piano with Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden and composition with Jacqueline Fontyn at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels from 1987-89. From 1989-92, he studied at the Chapelle Musical Reine Elisabeth and in 1994, he studied piano with Edward Auer and composition with Donald Freund at Indiana University, earning a DMus.

He has received numerous awards as a pianist, including First Prize at the Belgium Nanny Phillipart Contest (1992), a Fulbright scholarship (1992), the Fondation Belge de la Vocation Prize (1995), and the J.W. Pelemans Prize (1997). As a composer, he has received the Arthur de Greef Prize of the Belgian Fine Arts Academy (1993), the Coupe de la Création Musicale Award of the Académie Lutèce in Paris (1993), the Muizelhuis Encouragement Prize (1996), and the SABAM Prize (1996). More recently, he received the Prize of the City of Harelbeke (2000), the Prix de Composition from the International Piano Competition of 20th-Century Music in Orléans (2000) and the Irène Fuerison Prize of the Fine Arts Academy (2001).

Since the age of twelve, he has given solo recitals, as well as chamber music and orchestral concerts. He has performed in Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the UK, and the USA. Since 1994, he has taught chamber music at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels.