Öykü Canpolat

Born in 1993 in Izmir, the violist was admitted as a young student to the state conservatory "Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi" in 2002, where she also received advanced instruction from Çetin Aydar. In 2013, she continued her bachelor's studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin with Pauline Sachse and Friedemann Weigle. Between 2014 and 2016, she worked as an academy member with the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin and as a substitute violist with the Dresden Philharmonic. In 2015, she won 1st prize and an additional special prize at the 7th International Szymon Goldberg Award. From 2015 to 2019, she studied with Tabea Zimmermann at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin and, starting in 2016, was deputy principal violist at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Since February 2020, Öykü Canpolat has been principal violist of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne.