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Elif Turan (b. Izmir, 1983) started her musical education at a very early age. After graduating from the Izmir Fine Arts Lycee in 2001 she won a full Istanbul Bilgi University scholarship where she went on to study at the Jazz Singing and Piano performance Department. She studied the piano with Selen Gülün & Ali Peret, singing with Nükhet Ruacan, Randy Esen and Yıldız İbrahimova and found the opportunity of working on harmony and ensemble performance with Donovan Mixon, Ricky Ford, İmer Demirer, Can Kozlu and Cengiz Baysal. Elif Turan who performs at numerous Jazz Festivals with her own band and teaches singing and piano, published a Turkish Pop album in 2007. Having won the top prize at the 7th Nardis Young Jazz Vocalist competition held in 2011, Elif Turan continues her singing career with new projects and concerts.
Music Charge: 35.-TL

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Mercedes Casali who is the musician daughter of a family of Italian actors made her stage debut at 5 in her parents’ plays. She studied with many prominent jazz musicians such as Benny Golson, Joey DeFrancesco, Jimmy Cobb, Rachel Gould, Albert Hera and Michele Hendricks. She performed as a singer in veteran jazz guitarist Franco Cerri’s album “Cerrimedioatutto”. Currently she is studying for her Masters degree at the Jazz Faculty of the Milan Conservatory. The quartet which was born when Yiğit Özatalay (who has a composition Masters degree from the same university) met Casali, will perform a single convert at Nardis following their concert in Milan. This time around the band is joined by Ahmet Türkmenoğlu on the bass, and M. Kemal Emirel on the drums. The performance will consist of standards, compositions as well as “Italian Standards.”
Music charge: 30 TL

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The Jeff Giansily Quartet which brings together four prominent jazz musicians of the Istanbul jazz scene has its beginnings in 2008. The group which worked with Jeff’s compositions in its early days has eventually found itself visiting classics with daring interpretations. The headway made by the Quartet probably has its foundations in the encouragement found in the critical acclaim of their 2009 album “Circle”.
Jean-Francois “Jef” Giansily (b.1980), a French pianist, lives in Istanbul. Having studied music at the Parisian Bill Evans Academy under Bernard Maury, he received his diploma in specialised Jazz Studies in 2003. Jeff performs at local and European International Jazz Festivals heading numerous groups. He also teaches music theory at the Istanbul French Music School at the French Cultural Association.
Music Charge: 30.-TL

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The group will be performing jazz standards and compositions by Emre Kayhan and Engin Recepoğulları. Emre Kayhan who is one of the founding members of the group was born in England. He is a graduate of Mimar Sinan University, State Conservatory trombone division, and has a degree from the Royal College of Music in London. Between 1991-93 he played with various professional and amateur symphony orchestras and big bands in England. He also worked at the North Texas State University. He studied for and completed his jazz masters programme 2000–01 funded by a full scholarship from Trinity College of Music. He performed twice with the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) Jazz Orchestra at the Stockholm Jazz Festival in 1998 and again with the same orchestra in Budapest on two different occasions in 2002. In 2005 he participated in the İstanbul Jazz Festival as part of the Neşet Ruacan Quartet and performed with the guest trumpet player Claudio Roditi.
Music charge: 30TL

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Eren Noyan who was born in Istanbul started his musical endeavour with the piano and subsequently deciding to concentrate on vocal techniques studied singing with Ayhan Baran & Tülay Uyar. His performances with master pianist Altan İrtel made a profound contribution to the development of his jazz technique. He was part of many projects with Turkish and visiting musicians in numerous Jazz Clubs in Istanbul and a participant in the 18th Istanbul Jazz Festival. On  this evening, Eren Noyan who emphasizes dynamism on stage and communication with his audience will be joined by fellow young musicians with whom he habitually performs for a repertoire consisting of popular standards.
Music Charge: 30.-TL

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Meltem Ege was born is Syracuse, NY. She started her musical education with the piano at the age of seven. She returned to Turkey with her parents in 1991 and eventually graduated from the Bilkent University Music and Performing Arts Piano Division. She took up singing during her university studies and experimented with rock, funk, R&B, jazz and other styles. She particapated in “Dom Chemika” summer school in Poland in 2006. She took part in the Nardis Jazz Club Young Singers Competition in 2007 and won a place representing “Nardis” and “Turkey” at the 12th Finland “Lady Summertime” Jazz singing competition where she won the 1st prize as well as the “most popolar singer” title by popular vote. She then went on to win the 1st prize at the Lithuanian “Jazz Voices 2008” competition. In 2007 she won an acceptance to the Berklee College of Music, Jazz Vocal Performance department and then won Berklee’s talent scholarship. Meltem Ege completed the course in an extraordinary 3 year period during which she had the opportunity to study with many notable performers including Rhinannon, Joey Blake, Bob Stoldoff, Lisa Thorson, Steve. She also won many awards such as Voice Department Achievement Award, representing Berklee as Student Ambassador in Canada and Peer Advisor. One of her compositions won her the 2nd prize at the “Songs for Social Change” competition in 2009. She graduated from Berklee with top honours (Summa Cum Laude) in 2010. Her repertoire tonight will consist of selected pieces from the jazz standards and some arrangements guitarist and composer Önder Focan.
Music Charge: 35 TL

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Ece Göksu comes from a family of musicians and was born in Ankara. As a child she sang with the children’s choir of the Ankara State Opera and Ballet where she went on to study the piano. She participated in masterclasses run by Hüseyin Sermet and Ayşegül Sarıca. She started to get interested in Jazz at university. When her family moved to Istanbul in 2000 she transferred to the Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory from where she studied with Prof. Seher Tanrıyar before graduating. In 2007 while singing in various Istanbul venues and taking part in different festivals she won the Fulbright scholarship and then a scholarship from the William Paterson University which allowed her to follow a master’s programme in NJ/USA. Her masters thesis was based on Billie Holiday’s compositions and this was eventually published as a book by UMI-Proquest. Ece Göksu’s repertoire tonight will include jazz standards.
Music Charge: 35 TL