Turkish-American composer and performer Erberk Eryılmaz is recognized for bringing the energy of the folk music of his homeland to the concert stage with a creative and dramatic approach. His recent album of chamber works, "Dances of the Yogurt Maker" was nominated for a Grammy Award and received two gold medals at Global Music Awards in 2022. His compositions have been performed at some of the world’s most important concert venues such as Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Eryılmaz was selected to participate in the Moon Arts Project which will include his work, "Was her face the moon or sunlight?", expected to be sent to the Moon in 2022. This project will bring the first music to the Moon and the work received its premiere at NASA, next to Saturn V, history’s largest rocket.
His compositions and performances have been featured multiple times on Turkish State Radio and American Public Media's Performance Today and have received praise by Fanfare Magazine, Andante, CNN Turk, Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet, Sanattan Yansımalar, as well as the Washington Post, which describes his music as a “dervish-like explosion.” He has been featured on records released by MSR Classics, Naxos, Albany Records, Innova Recordings, Wirripang, and Parma Recordings.
As a composer, pianist, conductor, and folk percussionist, he has collaborated with many important ensembles including the Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Turkey, Houston Symphony, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, Fairfax Symphony, Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, Austin Camerata, Apollo Chamber Players, and Carpe Diem, Tesla and Del Sol String Quartets, ZOFO Duet, as well as the Bowen McCauley Dance Company.
Eryılmaz has received numerous awards including BNY Mellon Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement, Sallie Shepherd Perkins Prize for Best Achievement at Rice University, the Diemente Prize at the Hartt School and top prizes at the Van Rooy Competition for Musical Excellence, Silberman Chamber Music Competition, Carnegie Mellon University's Harry G. Archer Orchestra Composition Competition and String Quartet Composition Competition.
In 2015, Erberk Eryılmaz and his wife Laura Krentzman established Hoppa Project with aims to promote music from Eastern Europe and the Middle East by performing the music of the region with a wide range of styles from folk to newly commissioned contemporary music. Hoppa Project has collaborated with varied artists such as Ismail Lumanovski, Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, Shawn Conley, Beth Bahia Cohen, Ayşe Göknur Şanal, Yiğit Kolat, Özkan Manav, and Kamran İnce.
Eryılmaz received his education at Samsun Municipality Conservatory, Ankara State Conservatory, the Hartt School (Bachelor of Music), Carnegie Mellon University (Master of Music and Artist Diploma), and Rice University (Doctor of Musical Arts). He is teaching composition at the Ankara Music and Fine Arts University.
For more information please visit erberkeryilmaz.com