Jerfi Aji onstage for piano concert at Akbank Art

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Aji will take the stage and will play will play Schumann, Liszt and Chopin. Hürriyet photo

World-renowned pianist Jerfi Aji will perform Dec. 15 at Akbank Art Center for classical music lovers. Born in Istanbul in 1976, Aji started his piano training at the age of five with private lessons from Zeynep Aksoy.

Aji continued his piano studies with Hülya Ardıç while pursuing an engineering degree at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) textile engineering department. Aji then completed a Master of Music in Piano Performance at ITU’s Dr. Erol Üçer Center for Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM), where he studied piano with State Artist Ayşegül Sarıca, graduating in 2001. He also earned a Master of Science degree in industrial engineering at Boğaziçi University.

In 2006, Aji was accepted to the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where he completed his doctoral studies in piano performance with Marian Hahn, graduating with a DMA degree
in 2011.

Aji has given solo recitals and chamber music concerts in Turkey and the United States and has played in several contemporary music ensembles. He made his orchestral debut with the Bursa State Symphony Orchestra in Turkey in 2002, playing Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major.

Aji studied with prominent pianists and pedagogues including Thomas Hecht, Dmitry Rachmanov, Angela Cheng and Ali Darmar. He performed in master classes with Leon Fleisher, Murray Perahia and Jerome Rose and participated in the ARIA International Summer Academy in Muncie, Indiana, and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College of Music.

In 2011 Aji was awarded the Frances M. Wentz Turner Memorial Prize in Piano presented by the Peabody Conservatory. During his studies there, he was granted a graduate teaching assistantship in Opera Accompaniment. Aji is currently on the faculty of ITU-MIAM.

Aji will play J. Adams, R. Schumann, Alican Çamcı, F. Liszt and Chopin. The concert starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are available on biletix.com and cost 10 to 20 Turkish Liras.