In this episode, we sat down with Turkish violinist Emre Engin.

Emre is the recipient of many awards and he's an active soloist in both the US and Turkey. Although we both come from Turkey, we did not actually meet officially and become friends until meeting at Stony Brook University in New York, where he and I are both completing doctorate degrees in music.

In the episode we talked about his music career as well as his experience living in Turkey, the UK and the US. In the US he was a student of the famous violinist Pinchas Zukerman and his assistant Patinka Kopec, and had lots of interesting things to say about that style of teaching.

Emre also had some interesting insights into how he deals with nerves while performing. This is especially difficult as a soloist, who is under the spotlight at the front of the orchestra and has to play some of the most difficult music in the violin repertoire.

Timestamps (clickable on Webpage)

• [01:45] How Emre began playing the violin
• [05:55] Growing up in Turkey and the U.K.
• [09:30] Why Emre moved to the United States
• [13:11] Yankı and Emre's favorites parts of Turkish culture
• [19:15] How Emre has been dealing with the challenges of COVID-19
• [24:17] Emre's online concert series "Musik in the Air"
• [32:30] Playing concertos (being a soloist) and how Emre deals with the nerves of being under that kind of pressure
• [39:50] Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec's approach to violin teaching
• [51:22] Emre's favorite composer
• [01:01:17] Bonus Questions

Links:

• Emre's Instagram
• Emre's website
• Emre's brand-new online concert series "Musik in the Air"
• Emre playing Bach solo Sonata No. 2 in A minor
• Emre playing Vivaldi Violin Sonata in A Major
• Alan Watt's describing Joker

Support Us:

You can always support us by leaving a rating or review in your podcasting app. You can also share our episodes with friends on social media.

But it does take a lot of time to put together a podcast, maintain a website, and write new content every week. So if you would like to support us in a more substantial way, consider making a donation through the Paypal buttons on our website:

https://exploringkodawari.blog/donation/

Follow Us:

• Our Website/Blog
• Newsletter
• Twitter: @EKodawari
• Instagram: @exploringkodawari
• Facebook: facebook.com/ExploringKodawari