13-year-old Turkish pianist wins competition in Germany

Melike Çalkap- ISTANBUL

A 13-year-old Turkish student has won the International Pianele Piano Competition in Germany, becoming the youngest pianist ever to achieve this feat.

Arya Su Gülenç from the northwestern province of Bursa was one of the four winners of the competition held in Fulda, Germany, on Aug. 6, as she was hailed as a "Wonder Child" in the German press.

Sharing her story about how she got introduced to the piano with daily Hürriyet, Gülenç stated that her love for music began when she visited a music instrument shop at the age of 6.

"A white grand piano in the store impressed me. Then I expressed my desire to play the piano. Music and the piano were initially just a hobby for me. But as I started spending more time with the piano, my love and interest grew. Now, the piano, music and art are the focus of my life," she said.

Noting that she participated in her first competition in Bulgaria, a year after she started to play the piano, Gülenç said that winning first place in her first competition motivated her greatly.

One of the pieces she played at the competition in Germany was a composition by Turkish composer Ahmet Adnan Saygun, Gülenç said, adding that the audience applauded the piece for minutes and that other pianists even asked her for its notes.

Gülenç expressed her desire to not only become a successful pianist in the future but also to make a mark with her compositions, citing she already has two compositions.

"One of them is ‘Cry,’ which I composed in 2019 about the climate crisis, and the other one is named ‘Sky,’ composed for children forced to leave their homes for various reasons,” she said.

Her father, Ümit Gülenç, who is also a music teacher, stated that it was a great achievement for his daughter to be recognized for her performance at the young age of 13 in the press of Germany, a country that is a hub for classical music.