Filiz Ali (born 30 September 1937) is a Turkish

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

, music critic and writer. She is the daughter of one of the greatest authors of Turkish literature

Sabahattin Ali Sabahattin Ali (25 February 1907 – 2 April 1948) was a Turkish people, Turkish novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. Early life He was born in 1907 in Ardino, Eğridere township (now Ardino in southern Bulgaria) of the San ...

(1907–1948). She studied piano at the State Conservatory of Music in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. Graduating from

Ferhunde Erkin Ferhunde Erkin (née Ferhunde Remzi) (June 8, 1909 – July 11, 2007) was a Turkish pianist born in Istanbul. Ferhunde Remzi started her first lessons in Bandırma with her father Ali Remzi Yiğitgüden's guidance when her brother Necdet Remzi Ata ...

's class in 1958, she received a

Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

to study in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Ali completed her studies at the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

Boston, MA Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, where she studied with David Barnett, she also studied at the

Mannes College of Music The Mannes School of Music (), originally called the David Mannes Music School and later the Mannes Music School, Mannes College of Music, the Chatham Square Music School, and Mannes College: The New School for Music, is a Music school, music con ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with Frank Sheridan. In 1986 she received a master’s degree in Advanced Musical Studies from

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

where she was a Chevening Scholar. Filiz Ali served as piano and accompaniment teacher at the Ankara State Conservatory (1962-65), accompanist at the Istanbul State Opera (1965-72), and piano and accompaniment teacher at the Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory (1972- 85). She became a teacher in the

Mimar Sinan University Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (, or MSGSÜ) is a public university, public Art school, art university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university's campus is located in the Fındıklı, Beyoğlu, Fındıklı, Beyoğlu. The university was established ...

musicology department in 1987 and held the position of Musicology Department Chair between the years 1990 and 2005. She later taught at

Sabancı University Sabancı University () is a private research university that adopts a liberal arts education approach, established in 1994 and located on a 1.26 million squaremeter campus which is about 40 km from Istanbul's city center. Its first students ...

. Filiz Ali was the founding artistic director of the CRR Concert Hall in Istanbul between 1989 - 1992. She has been the musical advisor of the International

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from 'old' and 'city') is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 821 315 (Odunpazari + Tebebasi), with a metropolitan population of 921 630. The city is l ...

Festival since 1995. Ali is also founder and director of

Ayvalık Ayvalık (), formerly also known as Kydonies (), is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Balıkesir Province, Turkey. Its area is 305 km2, and its population is 75,126 (2024). It is a seaside town on the northwestern Aegean Se ...

International Music Academy (AIMA) since 1998. The aim of this academy is providing master classes for conservatory level students from Turkey and abroad, giving talented young people the chance to work with renowned leading musicians from Europe and Turkey. She produced music programmes including World Folk Songs, Piano Literature, Vocal Music and Jazz Today for the

Turkish Radio and Television Corporation The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish: ) is the national public broadcasting, public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio broadcaster in Turkey. Before the introductio ...

from 1962 to 1995 and for the London based BBC Turkish in 1985-86. She has been the regular music critique for major daily newspapers including ''

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: "Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Press ...

'', ''

Hürriyet ''Hürriyet'' (, ''Liberty'') is a major List of newspapers in Turkey, Turkish newspaper, founded in 1948. it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 319,000. ''Hürriyet'' combines entertainment with news coverage and ...

'', ''

Yeni Yüzyıl ''Yeni Yüzyıl'' (''New Century'') was a Turkish newspaper. It was published from 1994 to 1999, closing down due to legal and financial problems. It had been acquired in August 1998 from Dinç Bilgin's Sabah group by Korkmaz Yiğit Korkmaz Yi� ...

'',

Milliyet ''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. History and profile ''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 May 1950 ...

, ''

Radikal ''Radikal'' () was a daily liberal Turkish language newspaper, published in Istanbul. From 1996 it was published by Aydın Doğan's Doğan Media Group. Although Radikal did not endorse a particular political alignment, it was generally consider ...

'' and in magazines, including the Gösteri, Marie-Claire, Vizyon, YK Kitaplık, and Müzikoloji. Between the years 2002 and 2004, she produced and hosted music programmes on

Açık Radyo Açık Radyo (Open Radio 95.0) was an independent radio station broadcasting from Istanbul to metropolitan Istanbul and surrounding areas. The station's format included news, music and talk radio. Structure Açık Radyo first began broadcastin ...

. She is a founder of Balkan Music Forum and was Turkish representative of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

International Music Council The International Music Council (IMC) was created in 1949 as UNESCO's advisory body on matters of music. The original request of the foundation of the IMC was under the Director of the UNESCO. It is based at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France, ...

in Montevideo, Uruguay in October 2003. She has been the representative for Turkey in the European Music Council since 2005. She is the author of several books on music and musicians.

Awards

* Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Medal (1995) – France Culture Ministry) * Vehbi Koç Foundation Award (2011) * 43. Istanbul Music Festival Honorary Award (2015) (in appreciation of her work on polyphonic Western music)

Publications

* Sabahattin Ali (1979) * Music and the Problems of Our Music (1987) * Musician Portraits from the World and Turkey (1994) * Filiz Should Never Grieve… (1995) * A Present to Cemal Reşit Rey (1996) * Ferhunde Erkin / Amongst the Keys (2000) * Bülent Arel, a Pioneer of Electronic Music (2002) * A Modern Centre for Music in the Land of Myths: A Masterclass Story from Ayvalık (2008) * Musical Journeys (2012) * Nothing, it didn't hurt... (2017)

References

1937 births Living people Alumni of King's College London Turkish scientists 21st-century Turkish women scientists 21st-century Turkish scientists Turkish musicologists Turkish women musicologists Turkish classical pianists Cumhuriyet people Hürriyet people Yeni Yüzyıl people Radikal (newspaper) people 21st-century Turkish classical pianists 21st-century Turkish women pianists 21st-century Turkish pianists Music critics Turkish writers about music Women music critics {{classical-pianist-stub