Izem Gurer, Piano

Izem Gurer was born in Istanbul in 1999. She started to study piano with concert pianist Birsen Ulucan at the age of eight. In 2012 Izem won the first prize in the International Young Pianist Competition in Kosovo and honorary jury prize from an Albanian composer Fahri Beqiri. In June 2013, she has performed Mozart concerto KV 271 accompanied by the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2013 she has participated in Kamuran Gundemir National Piano Competition in Mersin, and rewarded with the second prize and "Best Turkish piece performance Award". Subsequently she was invited to perform a solo recital at the Antalya International Piano Festival, organised under the artistic guidance of a renowned Turkish composer and concert pianist Fazıl Say. She has been awarded the first
prize in Hacettepe National Piano Competition in Ankara in 2015. She was semi-finalist in the Epinal International Piano Competition in France in 2017. In 2019, she has been awarded the 3rd prize in the National Faruk Erengül competition in Istanbul .

In 2013 Izem has been invited by virtuoso pianist Prof. Dmitri Bashkirov to study with him in Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid . In 2017 Izem has been recognised as an outstanding young musician of the year, an achievement prize personally awarded to her by the Queen Sofia of Spain.

She performed numerous recitals and chamber music concerts in some of the most prestigious stages in Spain such as Fundacion Juan March, Auditorio Nacional, Teatro Monumental, Sony Auditorium in Madrid and Centro Botin and Palacio de Festivales in Santander. During these years, Izem has attended masterclasses of Menahem Pressler, Marta Gulyas, Luis Fernando Perez, Claudio Martinez Mehner, Eldar Nebolsin, Josep Colom, Rena Shereshevskaya, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Milana Chernyavska and more. She had been a frequent participant of Klasik Keyifler Music Festival in Capadoccia/Turkey and Musical Odyssey masterclasses summer course in Greece. She studied there with Professor Yekaterina Lebedeva (Trinity Laban Conservatoire), Professor Vanessa Latarche (Royal College of Music), Brazilian concert pianist Cristina Ortiz and Russian concert pianist Nikolai Demidenko. She was three times Musical Odyssey prizewinner with prize recitals in London (City Lit Institute, Talent Unlimited prize at St James Piccadilly) and at the International Festival in Greece.

Apart from her solo studies, Izem has a keen interest in playing chamber music and has been studying with Özcan Ulucan, who was one of senior students of violinist Maxim Vengerov. Izem had a considerable success in her chamber music career as a member of “Trio Fundacion Mahou San Miguel” in Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia and namely: the first prize in International chamber music Competition Arnuero/Santander,an award-prize winner for the best chamber music group of the year by Marta Gulyas and in 2020, performed “Triple Concerto of Beethoven” under the baton of Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado in one of the most prestigious concert halls of Spain,” Teatro Monumental” in Madrid.

In June 2021 , she completed her Bachelor’s degree in Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia with a diplome of achievement . In 2023, she completed her Master in Performance degree at Musik-Akademie Basel / Switzerland in the class of Prof. Zoltan Fejervari.

Currently, she is studying Doctor of Musical Arts in Perfromance at the class of Prof. Christina Dahl and she is Teaching Assistent at Stony Brook University/New York in the United States.