Hüseyin Sermet
Turkey, °1955
Turkish-born pianist and composer, Hüseyin Sermet's thirty-year career reflects his wide-ranging musical interests, his intensely personal vision of his large and eclectic repertoire and his pianistic
versatility. He has performed all over the world with many of the world’s finest musicians, including Lorin Maazel, Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Jurowski, Semyon Bychkov, David Robertson, Lawrence
Foster and Maria João Pires; and has worked with orchestras throughout Europe, the United States and the Far East, including the London Philharmonic, NHK, Shanghai, Tokyo and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.
Recent seasons have included extensive tours and concerts across Europe and South East
Asia. Hüseyin Sermet has recently collaborated with conductors such as Jonathan Nott, Ilan Volkov,
James Gaffigan, Xian Zhang, Pablo Heras-Casado, Lan Shui and Juraj Valcuha, and this season
he will perform with Roger Norrington and Krzysztof Urbański. He has performed his often highly
distinctive recital programmes in important series at London's Southbank Centre, Paris's Cité de
La Musique, the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, Copenhagen's Tivoli, Lisbon's Dias da
Musica, at the Lille Piano Festival and in Lyon in a chamber recital with Renaud and Gautier
Capuçon.
Equally active as a composer, Hüseyin Sermet's first major composition Réminiscènce 1 was premiered at the Empéri Festival in 1997 and broadcast live by France Musique, Dream and Nightmare
followed in 2004 as a commission from the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and in 2006 there
followed Sculptures 1 commissioned by İş Bank. Réminisicènces II and Sculptures II will be
completed this season for premieres in Germany, Holland and in Istanbul next year.
A devoted mentor of young talent, and highly regarded for his many appearances in Japan,
Sermet was filmed by NHK TV in a series of fifteen televised masterclasses with young pianists
broadcast throughout Japan over a period of four months.
Many of Hüseyin Sermet's extensive catalogue of recordings for Naïve, Harmonia Mundi and
Erato have won major international prizes including his disc of Ravel's solo piano works, three
discs devoted to Alkan (all winning a Diapason d’Or), a selection of Schubert’s works for four
hands with Maria João Pires and an award for Liszt's Piano Sonata and late works.
Hüseyin Sermet was born in Istanbul in 1955. He began his education at the Ankara State
Conservatoire and continued his studies at the Paris Conservatoire and later at the Ecole
Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot with Thierry de Brunhoff, Nadia Boulanger and Maria
Curcio. He also studied composition with Olivier Messiaen and received the Lilly Boulanger award
for his early string quartet.
versatility. He has performed all over the world with many of the world’s finest musicians, including Lorin Maazel, Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Jurowski, Semyon Bychkov, David Robertson, Lawrence
Foster and Maria João Pires; and has worked with orchestras throughout Europe, the United States and the Far East, including the London Philharmonic, NHK, Shanghai, Tokyo and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.
Recent seasons have included extensive tours and concerts across Europe and South East
Asia. Hüseyin Sermet has recently collaborated with conductors such as Jonathan Nott, Ilan Volkov,
James Gaffigan, Xian Zhang, Pablo Heras-Casado, Lan Shui and Juraj Valcuha, and this season
he will perform with Roger Norrington and Krzysztof Urbański. He has performed his often highly
distinctive recital programmes in important series at London's Southbank Centre, Paris's Cité de
La Musique, the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, Copenhagen's Tivoli, Lisbon's Dias da
Musica, at the Lille Piano Festival and in Lyon in a chamber recital with Renaud and Gautier
Capuçon.
Equally active as a composer, Hüseyin Sermet's first major composition Réminiscènce 1 was premiered at the Empéri Festival in 1997 and broadcast live by France Musique, Dream and Nightmare
followed in 2004 as a commission from the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and in 2006 there
followed Sculptures 1 commissioned by İş Bank. Réminisicènces II and Sculptures II will be
completed this season for premieres in Germany, Holland and in Istanbul next year.
A devoted mentor of young talent, and highly regarded for his many appearances in Japan,
Sermet was filmed by NHK TV in a series of fifteen televised masterclasses with young pianists
broadcast throughout Japan over a period of four months.
Many of Hüseyin Sermet's extensive catalogue of recordings for Naïve, Harmonia Mundi and
Erato have won major international prizes including his disc of Ravel's solo piano works, three
discs devoted to Alkan (all winning a Diapason d’Or), a selection of Schubert’s works for four
hands with Maria João Pires and an award for Liszt's Piano Sonata and late works.
Hüseyin Sermet was born in Istanbul in 1955. He began his education at the Ankara State
Conservatoire and continued his studies at the Paris Conservatoire and later at the Ecole
Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot with Thierry de Brunhoff, Nadia Boulanger and Maria
Curcio. He also studied composition with Olivier Messiaen and received the Lilly Boulanger award
for his early string quartet.
