Autistic pianist strongly applauded at first concert

ANKARA

A 28-year-old pianist, Türkiye’s first doctoral student with autism, has received great appreciation at his first concert, with audiences strongly applauding him for his remarkable performance.

Buğra Çankır, also known as the musical genius, was accompanied by the Ankara University Music and Fine Arts Orchestra for his concert in the capital Ankara.

Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanık and Culture and Tourism Deputy Minister Özgül Özkan Yavuz watched the concert in which Çankır performed Bach’s piano concerto.

The audience applauded Çankır for a long time at the end of the concert, while Erhan Özden, the rector of Ankara Music and Fine Arts University and general art director of the concert, expressed that a student with such a special talent like Çankır was a chance for his university.

Congratulating the teachers who educated Çankır, “I would like to express my most special thanks to Buğra’s father. Buğra has a rock-like father who has supported him for years,” Özden said.

Çankır, who was born in the southern province of Hatay in 1994, was diagnosed with autism at the age of three.

Developing his skills in different fields thanks to the support of his family and special training, Çankır turned to music at an early age.

In 2004, the talented musician received 36 full points from the “absolute ear” test organized by the University of California, becoming one of the 664 people in the world who passed this test and was named “the best musical ear in the world.”

Çankır’s ability to distinguish the frequencies of all sounds in nature was registered by the Wisconsin Medical Society in 2007, while the pianist entered the literature as a “musical genius.”

Despite his achievements in this field, he was not accepted to the secondary education departments of conservatories due to his autism.

Not giving up his desire to get an academic musical education, Çankır graduated from a fine art high school in Hatay, and later earned a degree from Iskenderun University State Conservatory in 2016.

Çankır, who achieved to reach the final stage in the World Disabled Piano Competition, successfully finished his master’s degree in music at Afyon Kocatepe University.

He was later accepted to Ankara Music and Fine Arts University for a doctorate and achieved a great success as Türkiye’s first doctoral student with autism.