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Yürür, Ahmet (b. August 14, 1941, Istanbul). Esteemed Turkish composer of mostly orchestral works that have been performed throughout Europe and elsewhere; he is also active as a musicologist.
Prof. Yürür studied violin at the Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul from 1948-55 and studied viola and violin privately from 1955-61. He also studied French literature at the Sorbonne in 1961-62, where he earned a diploma, and studied political science at the University of Ankara in 1962-63 before he chose music. He studied composition with Ulvi Cemal Erkin and Ahmet Adnan Saygun at the State Conservatory of Ankara from 1962-70 and again with Ahmet Adnan Saygun at the Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul from 1971-75. He studied composition with John Eaton, Frederick Fox and Juan Orrego-Salas, ethnomusicology with Portia Maultsby and David White, musicology with Hans Buelow, and music theory with Lewis Rowell and Gary Wittlich at Indiana University from 1978-81. He also studied ethnomusicology with Ki Mantle Hood and Josef Pacholczyk at the University of Maryland from 1981-89, where he earned a PhD, on a grant from the American Research Institute in Turkey.
He was a founding member of the Fine Arts Foundation of Turkey (1992) and served as a guest artist-in-residence of the Berliner Senat (1997). His music has been performed in Austria, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Russia, Syria, Turkey, the UK, and the USA.
As a musicologist, he served as a lecturer for the Semester at Sea program of UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh in 1983, during which time he did research in nine Asian countries. He also did ethnomusicology field research in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal in 1991, on a grant from the India-Turkey Academic Exchange Program, and in northern Greece in 2003, on a grant from the American Research Institute in Turkey.
He co-founded the Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul in 1971, where he served as its associate director and chair of its composition department and also taught composition and music theory from 1971-78. He taught at Hacettepe University in Ankara from 1987-91 and served as chair of its musicology department from 1989-91. He then taught composition, ethnomusicology and musicology at the Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul from 1991-98 and taught as Professor of Composition and chair of the music department at Yildiz Technical University from 1998-2003. He has taught audio design and ethnomusicology at Ege University in Izmir since 2003, where he is also building an audio design department, with an emphasis on artificial intelligence and computer composition.
In addition to the works listed below, Prof. Yürür has composed film scores and incidental music.
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail address: ahyurur@yahoo.com
Street address: Prof. Ahmet Yürür, Ilk Belediye Cad. 7/2, Tünel-Beyoglu, Istanbul 80050, Turkey
Telephone: + 9021 2252 5110
SELECT LIST OF WORKS
STAGE: The Smile (ballet, scenario by the composer), string quartet, 1977; Gül Baba (4 act opera, libretto by Giovanni Corti), 2000
ORCHESTRAL: Theme and Variations, 1969; Ovvertura Concertante, 1979; Concertino, piano, small orchestra (clarinet, French horn, strings), 1982; Concerto, cello, orchestra, 1988
CHAMBER MUSIC: Étude, clarinet, 1976; Étude, French horn, 1976; Episodo I, string quartet, double bass, 1977; Orpheus with his Lute, clarinet, cello, 1978; Atys, oboe, viola, 1979; Forest Clearings of Wales, clarinet (+ bass clarinet), 1-2 percussion, tape, 1979; American Suite No. 2, string quartet, 1980; The Pied Piper, flute (+ alto flute), ensemble (guitar [+ electric guitar, mandolin], cello, double bass, harpsichord, percussion), 1990; Gnostic Suite, 5 violas da gamba, 1995; Ma Cumba Suite, alto saxophone, violin, piano, 1997
CHORAL: Cantata of Laments (text by A. Kadir), soprano, alto, tenor, bass, mixed chorus, orchestra, 1974
VOCAL: Our Songs (text by Nazim Hikmet), soprano, piano, 1976; The Lay of Sheikh Bedreddin (text by Nazim Hikmet), tenor, piano, 1980; Half-Iron, Half-Naked (text by Rainer Maria Rilke), tenor, trumpet, cello, percussion, 1983
PIANO: Sonata, 1968; American Suite No. 1, 1978; Fugue, 1981; Twelve Variations on a Chorale, 1981; American Suite No. 3, 1985
(Last updated on December 8, 2003)
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