Leyla Pınar

Leyla Pınar was born in Istanbul. She graduated from the Istanbul Conservatory. Upon a recommendation of Cemal Reşit Rey with whom she studied privately, Pınar went to Europe to continue her studies. After a year at the Cesare Pollini Conservatory in Padua, she joined the class of Antoine-Geoffrey Dechaume, harpsichordist, eminent musicologist and one of the foremost experts of authentic interpretation in baroque music at Poitiers University in France. During studying in France, Pınar became an active member of the “Collegium Musicae Antiquae”. As a student of Nadia Boulanger and Solange Corbin, she obtained “first prize” for harpsichord at Poitiers and the Mons Conservatory as well as “licenses” in chamber music, harmony, counterpoint and the “diplôme supérieure de concertiste” at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. She also received a musicology license at Sorbonne (Ecole des Hautes Etudes.) She won “JMF Rencontres Musicales”, “François Henri Clicquot” and “Melvin-Jones Fellow” prizes. After returning to Turkey, Pınar started teaching at the Marmara University and Mimar Sinan Conservatory in Istanbul and founded an instrumental trio specializing in Baroque music. After completing her doctoral degree in music, she continued performing her art under such distinguished harpsichordists as Raphael Puyana (Santiago De Compostela), Jean-Patrice Brosse and Michel Chapuis-organ (Comminges), Christopher Kite-piano forte, and Kenneth Gilbert (Guildhall Music School). Pınar studied with Robert Kohnen for three years. Pınar has been invited by the British Ministry of Culture in order to research English Baroque music.

Pınar has given numerous recitals and concerts of baroque and contemporary music in Europe and the United States. She has recorded and given live broadcast concerts for French, Swiss, Dutch, Belgian and Turkish Radio-TVs. As a soloist, she has performed with “Ensemble Mondial of Cologne”, “Amsterdam Calefax Group”, the Istanbul and Ankara State Symphony Orchestras and the Turkish Radio Chamber Orchestra. She has participated in various music festivals such as the International Istanbul Music Festival (twice), the International Al Bustan Festival in Lebanon, I Fiamminghi, and the Festival of Contemporary music in Campo-Antwerp and “Le Printemps Baroque du Sablon” in Brussels. She has given duo concerts with Paul Dombrecht and Robert Kohnen. Pınar gave a recital at the United Nations in New York in memoriam of the 75th anniversary of Turkish Republic. She also gave a special recital in Brussels’ Music Instruments Museum on 3 different periodic harpsichords. She gave master classes on harpsichord and baroque interpretation at the Brussels Royal Conservatory. In 2001, she premiered Ertuğrul Oğuz Fırat’s Harpsichord Concerto, which has been dedicated to her, with the Ankara Presidential Symphony Orchestra. Pınar is the author of several articles on contemporary Turkish music in various publications. She is the founder of the “Istanbul Barok” ensemble. Since 1994, she has served as the founder and Artistic Director in the International Istanbul Baroque Music Festival.

Recordings:
Leyla Pinar: Clavecin. (Label: Pavane ADW 7225)
Leyla Pinar: Yeni Bir Deyiş. (Label: Night And Day)
Leyla Pinar & Istanbul Barok: Osmanlı Barok Müziği. (Ottoman Baroque Music). (Label: Kalan)

Reference: istanbulbaroque.com, en.wikipedia.org