Biography

Turkish-American composer and performer Erberk Ery𐰯lmaz is recognized for bringing the energy of the folk music of his homeland to the concert stage with a creative and dramatic approach. His compositions have been performed at some of the world’s most important concert venues such as Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba, and the National Gallery of Arts in Washington D.C. He was selected to participate in the Moon Arts Project which will include his work, "Was her face the moon or sunlight?", expected to be sent to the moon in 2021. This project will bring the first music to the Moon and the work received its premiere at NASA, next to Saturn V, history’s largest rocket.

His compositions and performances have been featured multiple times on Turkish State Radio and American Public Media's Performance Today and have received praise by Fanfare Magazine, Andante, CNN Turk, Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet, Sanattan Yansımalar, as well as the Washington Post, which describes his music as a “dervish-like explosion.”

As a composer, pianist, conductor, and folk percussionist, he has collaborated with many important ensembles including the Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Turkey, Houston Symphony, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, Fairfax Symphony, Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, Austin Camerata, Apollo Chamber Players, and Carpe Diem, Tesla and Del Sol String Quartets, ZOFO Duet, as well as the Bowen McCauley Dance Company.

Ery𐰯lmaz has received numerous awards including BNY Mellon Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement, Sallie Shepherd Perkins Prize for Best Achievement at Rice University, the Diemente Prize at the Hartt School and top prizes at the Van Rooy Competition for Musical Excellence, Silberman Chamber Music Competition, Carnegie Mellon University's Harry G. Archer Orchestra Composition Competition and String Quartet Composition Competition.

Aksak Disko was commissioned by the Portland Youth Philharmonic in 2020. The work is inspired by the aksak (irregular) meters and style of Thracian folk music, and the disko (disco) genre of the 80’s and 90’s in Turkey’s popular music. The work is constructed around the conflict of the aksak meters of the folk music and the simple meters of disco. With the unusual pairing of these two very energetic styles of music, the work aims to create an experience with extreme constant drive and unusual timbral combinations.