Ipek Bozkurt, 36
Professor
Seabrook, Texas
Turkey

Ipek Bozkurt began her piano studies at age 6 in Ankara, Turkey, at the Aran Music Center, but after 16 years moved to the United States to obtain her master’s and doctorate degrees in engineering management at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia. Currently an associate professor of engineering management at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, Dr. Bozkurt’s passion for piano was reignited after attending the Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2013. A subsequent purchase of a grand piano she has nicknamed “Black Beauty” followed. When she is not playing the piano she deems too big for her living room, Dr. Bozkurt can be found attending events in the Museum District, the Theater District, or with the Sherlock Holmes Society in Houston. She feels she was pre-destined to participate in a competition bearing the Cliburn name: Her Turkish teachers, the Aran Duo, studied at The Juilliard School under Rosina Lhévinne, who also taught Van Cliburn.

COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round
CHOPIN   Mazurka in C-sharp Minor, op. 6, no. 2
RACHMANINOV   Prelude in C-sharp Minor, op. 3, no. 2

Quarterfinal Round
BACH   Italian Concerto, BWV 971

Semifinal Round
BEETHOVEN   Sonata No. 17 in D Minor, op. 31, no. 2 (“Tempest”)

Final Round
BEETHOVEN   Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, op. 15: I. Allegro con brio