Füsun Köksal
Füsun Köksal (born 1973) is a Turkish composer of contemporary classical music. Köksal was born and grew up in Bursa, Turkey and attended Bilkent University's Faculty of Music and Performing Arts in Ankara from 1989 to 1996, where she earned her bachelor's degree in music theory and composition, studying under the supervision of Bujor Hoinic. From 1996 to 2002 she lived in Cologne, Germany, where she studied composition with Krzysztof Meyer and theory with Johannes Schild, earning a Diplom Musikerin from the Hochschule für Musik Köln. In 2002 she returned to Bilkent University, where she taught  composition for three years. In 2004, she matriculated into the doctoral program at the University of Chicago, where she has studied with Marta Ptaszynska and Shulamit Ran. For the 2010–11 academic year she was Visiting Professor of Theory and Composition at the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently completing her PhD at the University of Chicago. Her compositions have been performed worldwide by notable ensembles including the Ensemble Modern Academy, Ensemble Calliopée, Penderecki String Quartet, Arditti String Quartet, Pacifica Quartet, Eighthblackbird and Hezarfen Ensemble of Istanbul. Her oeuvre ranges from solo to orchestral works and is informed by the gestural  and timbral concerns of e.g. Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio. Köksal was assistant professor for music composition at Middlebury College and finally Associate Professor of Composition at Yaşar University İzmir. Honors. Köksal's honors include: She has participated in master classes by Peter Eötvös, Salvatore Sciarrino, Augusta Read Thomas, and David Felder. Her music has been performed throughout Europe and America at festivals such as the Fertile Crescent Festival (Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton University), Young Composers in New Music (Detmold), Turkkfest (London), Toronto Summer Music Festival, Forum Neuer Musik (Cologne), June in Buffalo Festival, Centre Acanthes (Metz), Via Stellae Festival  (Spain), and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany). The prominent performers and ensembles who have featured her music include Derek Bermel, Benjamin Reissenberger, International Ensemble Modern Academy, Pacifica Quartet, eighth blackbird, Penderecki String Quartet, Ensemble Calliopée, Orchestre Nationale de Lorraine, Arditti String Quartet, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s 10/10 Ensemble, Ensemble Fire-Wire, Dafô Quartet, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Hezarfen Ensemble, and Vertixe Sonora Ensemble.