Halit Turgay started his flute education at the Istanbul Municipality Conservatory at the age of 11. In 1987, he completed his BA Degree. He earned his MA (Music) Degree in 1993 and PhD in Music Performance in 2002 at the Istanbul University State Conservatory. At the age of 23, he won the Skene Award in the VII Aberdeen International Young Musicians Festival, in Scotland. In the same year, he was accepted at the Royal Academy of Music in London, to the class of William Bennett and continued his education with the British Cultural Council’s Scholarship.
As a performer, he worked together with masters such as Hüseyin Sermet, William Bennett, Ashan Pillai, Jonathan Leathwood, Yaprak Sandalcı, Lillian Tonella Tüzün, Misha Dacic, Dietrich Bethge, Massimo Bianci and Yekaterina Lebedeva. He performed as a solo flutist with many orchestras, such as I Musici di Roma, Artemisa Chamber Orchestra, Savaria Symphonic Orchestra, London Octave Chamber Orchestra. He obtained admiration in many international events placed in Paris, Nice, Cannes, Marseilles, Moscow, Toulouse, Sofia, Athens, Bruges, Budapest, Beijing and London.
As a composer, his composing style contains the elements of history, archaeology, and mythology. He made important contributions to the Turkish culture and repertoire, especially with works dedicated to various regions of Turkey. Amongst his works, three of them have been released on CD: Turkish Tea Jazz Suite, My Name is Istanbul and Mersin Flute Concerto. In 2014 he won the Second Prize in the 4th International Mersin Music Festival National Composers’s Competition. Turgay made as well great contributions to Turkish flute education with the success of his students he trained as an educator. He won the 1st prize from the British Flute Society (BFS), in 2021, in the U.K., and the National Flute Association (NFA), in 2022, in the U.S.A. with his work Aegean Whispers. In 2024, apart from these achievements as a composer, Apollo & Marsyas (for Solo Flute) and Meditarrenean Trio (Flute, Cello & Piano) were awarded Honorable Mention by NFA (U.S.A.).
Turgay, who started teaching at the Istanbul University State Conservatory in 1989, has made great contributions to the Turkish flute education with the success of his students as educators. He established the Halit Turgay Flute Summer School, which he has been organizing courses since 2003.
He has been living in China (Tsinghua International School/Symphony Academy) as a flute and chamber music teacher in 2023 and 2024. In addition, Turgay, who continues to work in his country and internationally as a composer and flutist, also carries out academic studies in his field as a Professor Dr. at the Maltepe University Conservatory in Turkey, Italy and France.
WORKS
Cappadocia, Op.4 Nr.4 | flute & piano
The Northern Bells – Trio, Op.3 Nr.6 | two flutes & piano