Great Turkish musician Timur Selçuk dies at age 74

ISTANBUL

Turkish composer, singer, pianist and orchestra conductor Timur Selçuk, the son of the legendary Turkish neo-classical music composer Münir Nurettin Selçuk, died Nov. 6 at the age of 74.

Born in Istanbul in 1945, Selçuk started playing piano at the age of five and gave his first concert at seven. He graduated from Galatasaray High School and Istanbul Municipality Conservatory. He then went to Paris and studied at the Department of Composition and Orchestra conducting at Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris.

In 1965, he started composing music to the works of famous poets, including Ümit Yaşar and Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel. He released his first record in 1967, after which he began his concert series, where he sang playing the piano.

In 1975, he returned to Turkey and started working on chamber music and film music. In 1977, Selçuk founded the Istanbul Chamber Orchestra and Çağdaş Müzik Merkezi (Modern Music Center) to teach music to his students. He also worked at Ankara Sanat Theater for 10 years.

In 1998, he received the title of State Artist from the Culture and Tourism Ministry. He has also participated twice in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1975 and 1989.

In his lifetime, he had also conducted many orchestras and performed at many concerts in Turkey, the U.S, Russia, England, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Bulgaria and Spain.