Utar Artun

Utar Artun was born in Ankara, Turkey. In 2006, he arranged musical  pieces for the theater play “The 7 Women”. Artun arranged numerous movie  soundtracks and oldies/jazz music for symphonic orchestras, and the  Bursa Regional Symphony Orchestra, Antalya State Symphony, Cukurova  State Symphony, Presidential Symphony Orchestra and Izmir State Symphony  Orchestra performed his arrangements and compositions in live concerts.  In Turkey, Artun performed at the 19th Istanbul Jazz Festival, 12th  Side Culture Art Festival, the 7th Eskisehir Jazz Festival, 12th  International Ankara Jazz Festival, 6th International Mersin Music  Festival, and 25th International Ankara Music Festival. In 2008, Artun  graduated from Percussion Department of Hacettepe Conservatory with 2nd  Rank (runner-up) Degree Award (in Turkey).

After his graduation,  he participated to European Scholarship Tours of Berklee College of  Music and graduated in 2.5 years with summa cum laude degree. He was  awarded for highly “Honorable Mention” from Berklee Contemporary  Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition, Barnes&Noble award, 5  Dean’s List awards, Outstanding Pianist award, Arif Mardin Scholarship  Award and Brian Oliver Memorial Award. He was among the finalist of  ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composers Competition (2010) and Young Jazz  Composers Competition (2011). In January 2010 and 2012, one of his  compositions was selected to Jazz Revelation Records CDs.  He was a JRR  artist of Berklee and Artun was a part of ‘Birds of Feather’, ‘Octave’  and ‘Ripple Effect’ albums. In 2011, he performed with Kevin Eubanks in  the studio recording session of WGBH Studios - Boston, MA. In the US,  He’s been in workshops, clinics, concert performances and album  recordings with world renowned artists such as Bobby McFerrin,  Dave Weckl, Jojo Mayer, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Dave Liebman, Antonio  Sanchez, Mark Guiliana, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Simon Shaheen, Dave  Holland, Larry Finn, Eddie Gomez, Jason Moran, Fred Hersch, Kati Agocs,  Hankus Netsky, Ken Schaphorst, Mehmet Ali Sanlikol, Erkan Ogur, Anat  Cohen, Yazhi Guo, Luis Conte, Kenwood Dennard, Jason Linder, Ledisi,  Omar Hakim, Chuck Rainey, Jack DeJonnethe and David Fiuczynski. He  involved into the Rhythm of the Universe and Berklee Yo-Team Projects  as an Arranger, Performer, Conductor and Orchestrator, and Planet  MicroJam Institute at Berklee College of Music.

Artun won the  18th HALICI MIDI Composition Contest and 2nd place in the Berklee Film  Scoring Contest 7 in 2011.  In February 2013, He won a runner-up award  of the TRT 2013 Children Choir Contest. In 2013, Artun won the Highest  Award of SCAMV 1st National Symphonic Composition Contest. In Turkey, he  is one the highly awarded scholars of Foundation of Modern Education  (CEV) and Ankara Jazz Society (ACD). In 2016, won the 3rd place award of  9th Eczacibasi National Composition Contest with his symphonic lied  "Hiclik". Artun has done numerous international studio recordings,  albums, festivals, concerts and performances such as Undead Jazz  Festival, Burlington Jazz Festival, Europalia Arts festival in Belgium,  Musicacoustica Festival in China, Abu Dhabi Festival, Boston Jazz Fest,  Barcelona Guitar Festival, Vilnius Jazz Festival in Lithuania, Huayi  Arts Festival in Singapore and Detroit Jazz Festival. Artun had  performances, touring and clinics in Switzerland (HKB-Bern & AMR  Geneva), France (Paris, Sunset and Nancy, Music Academy International),  Austria (Innsbruck - Treibhaus), Germany (Berlin-Aufsturz), Netherlands  (Amsterdam- Panama), China (Beijing Central Conservatory) and Italy  (Gezmataz Jazz Festival, Genova). He did a tour with Jussi Reijonen in  Finland along with 8 performances and 5 workshops.  Also, he had plenty  of interviews, TV broadcasts and newspaper-press cuttings in USA, Europe  and Turkey. With Nazan Nihal, he released their band’s “neotolia” EP  album – Rose Lace in 2014 and they won a Bronze Medal from Global Music  Awards 2014. In 2017, they released their 2nd album “Neotolian Song” and  finished their USA CD Release tour. In 2015, he won the Boston  Microtonal Society Award and released his solo music video  “Cajonversations”. In 2017 & 2018, Artun composed new ballet music  for the Ankara State Opera & Ballet's Modern Dance projects such as  "Kibritci Kiz". In 2017, he composed the first Piano & Cajon  Concertant in the world and he premiered it at Zorlu PSM in Istanbul  with Istanbul Symphony Orchestra in 2018. He was the Honorary  Chairman/Judge of Global Outstanding Chinese Artists Association - 6th  & Y7th International Piano Competition. In 2018, he won ‘JCI - TOYP  “10 Outstanding Young Persons of the World” Culture Award - in Istanbul,  Turkey. Recently, he was awarded for Cambridge Community Foundation and  Mass Art Council grants. Currently, he’s working on a new symphonic  project “DORE-MIMI” with Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Ankara.

In  2015, Artun got his M.M. degree from the historic New  England Conservatory with ‘Academic Honors’. He has also composed and  arranged over 120 pieces for symphony orchestra, as well as more than  160 pieces for brass bands and big bands. Featured on various studio  albums as a piano player, arranger, and drummer. His compositions and  arrangements are performed in USA, Switzerland, Turkey, Holland, China,  Canada, Taiwan, Singapore, Czech Republic and Russia. Artun was working  as an Arranger for Ankara Kent Big Band and Musical Director for  Classical Oasis Ensemble. Furthermore, He's a voting member at The  Recording Academy for upcoming Grammy Awards. In addition to  that, Utar Artun is a member of SCI, NACUSA, Cagdas Turk Bestecileri and  BMI. Currently, Artun is a faculty member at Berklee College of Music  and New England Conservatory P. School.