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Turkish State Choir

The Turkish State Choir was established in 1988 under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism through the initiatives of Hikmet Şimşek. Since its foundation, the choir has been conducted by Walter Strauss, Ahter Destan, İbrahim Yazıcı, and Cemi’i Can Deliorman. As of 2017, the choir has continued its work under the direction of Burak Onur Erdem.

The Turkish State Choir performed its first concert in 1989 under the baton of Ahmed Adnan Saygun. Since then, the choir has given over a thousand concerts in various cities across Turkey and has also performed internationally in countries such as Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Israel, Bulgaria, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and France. Among its significant performances are the world premiere of Harbison's piece dedicated to Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, "Mahler's Symphony No. 2," "Britten's War Requiem," and "Verdi's Requiem" in Berlin.

In 2010, the Turkish State Choir was awarded "Choir of the Year" at the Donizetti Awards. In 2023, the choir shared the stage with the Grammy-winning Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir for a special concert themed "Bridges" at the opening concert of the World Choral Music Symposium, which is considered one of the most prestigious choral events in the world, held in Istanbul.

The Turkish State Choir has a diverse repertoire that includes a wide range of a cappella choral literature and various symphonic works. Over the years, the choir has produced numerous albums featuring works such as "Orff: Carmina Burana," "Mozart: Requiem," "Saygun: Yunus Emre Oratorio," "Say: Nazım Oratorio," and "Sun: Kurtuluş Film Music." Additionally, the choir has recorded two albums consisting of folk songs by Saygun and Sun.

In recent years, the Turkish State Choir has played a significant role in bringing choral works that reflect Turkish culture to the international stage by commissioning world-renowned composers like Eurico Carrapatoso, Giovanni Bonato, Henning Sommerro, and Sean Doherty to set the poetry of Turkish poets to music.

Since its founding, the choir has performed with many esteemed orchestras and conductors. To foster the development of new choral conductors, the choir has organized the "Walter Strauss Choral Conducting Masterclass" since 2016. This masterclass welcomes conductors and conducting candidates from across Turkey and abroad. Renowned conductors such as Paulo Lourenço, Lorenzo Donati, Ragnar Rasmussen, Josep Vila i Casanas, Jan Schumacher, and Georg Grün have served as instructors for this masterclass.

The Turkish State Choir also engages in educational activities to promote choral music and support sustainable development in this field. In addition to its concerts, the choir conducts seminars, talks, and workshops to convey the qualities and harmony of polyphonic choral music to all citizens, especially children, youth, and music educators. The choir also organizes "Open Singing" concerts, which are open to everyone and encourage communal singing.

As of 2019, the Turkish State Choir is a member of the European Network for Professional Chamber Choirs (TENSO).

Burak Onur Erdem

Conductor

Turkish State Choir, Artistic Director and Conductor
Rezonans, Artistic Director and Conductor
European Choral Association (ECA-EC), Artistic Vice-president
International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM), Vice-president
World Youth Choir, Artistic Advisor
Choral Culture Association, Founding President
World Symposium on Choral Music 2023 Istanbul, Festival Director

Biography

Dr. Burak Onur Erdem is the Principal Conductor of the Turkish State Choir.He completed his secondary education at Deutsche Schule Istanbul and graduated withhigh honors from Boğaziçi University, earning a degree in Political Science & InternationalRelations along with the Rector’s Prize. Dr. Erdem furthered his musical education at theITU Centre for Advanced Studies in Music, obtaining a Master’s in Music Theory and aPh.D. in Conducting. His postgraduate studies continued under Prof. Johannes Prinz atKunstuniversität Graz. Additionally, he has received advanced training throughmasterclasses with notable conductors such as Maria Guinand, Georg Grün, FriederBernius, Michael Gohl, Denes Szabo, Volker Hempfling, and Anders Eby.Dr. Erdem's early career was distinguished by prizes in the Jugend Musiziert competitionsin Cairo, Athens, Rome, and Nürnberg. With his choir Rezonans, he has achievedrecognition by winning prizes in prestigious competitions in Cork, Arezzo, Varna, andMarktoberdorf. He has also led performances across Germany, the Netherlands, Italy,Portugal, Hungary, Estonia, Bulgaria, and Greece, bringing Turkish choral music tointernational audiences.As the Principal Conductor of the Turkish State Choir, Dr. Erdem has premiered andrecorded numerous new choral pieces. He is a co-founder of the Walter Strauss ChoralConducting Masterclass in Ankara and he is teaching choral conducting at the BilkentUniversity Music Department.Dr. Erdem is also the founding president of the Choral Culture Association, a communityof choirs and choral experts in Türkiye. The association’s achievements include hostingthe European Choral Association's General Assembly & Conference in Cappadocia,founding the Turkish National Youth Choir, organising annual Choral Marathons,conferences, choral conducting training programmes and initiating the Turkish ChoralMusic Library.His expertise is recognised internationally, serving as a jury member for prestigiouscompetitions in Japan, Singapore, Germany, Italy, and the European Grand Prix for ChoralSinging. He has worked in music commissions for the Europa Cantat Festivals in Tallinnand Ljubljana, the Leading Voices Festival in Utrecht, and in Tallinn. In 2023, he served asthe Festival Director for the World Symposium on Choral Music in Istanbul.Dr. Erdem still is the Vice-President of both the European Choral Association and theInternational Federation of Choral Music.