Violinist and vocalist Bengisu Gökçe will be presenting selections
from different regions of Turkey and Balkans, as well as original compositions
BENGISU GÖKÇE – Violin & Voice
Multi-award winner and Grammy nominee
ALPER TUZCU – Guitar
Dual voting member of Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards
MAX RIDLEY – Bass
GEORGE LERNIS – Percussion
Grammy Nominee
BENGİSU GÖKÇE – Violin
Bengisu Gökçe is a multi-genre Violinist and Singer, known for combining in her music the Turkish roots with Eastern-European and Middle-Eastern traditions.
As a professionally renowned performer, Gökçe's versatile playing has led her to share the stage with several music icons including Mark O’Connor, Tigran Hamasyan, Aynur Doğan, Shreya Ghoshal, Toninho Horta, Shankar Mahadevan, Simon Shaheen, Amal Murkus, and Pablo Ziegler to name a few.
Throughout her career she has performed in various distinguished venues such as Carnegie Hall (NY), Lincoln Center (NY), Boston Symphony Hall, American Repertory Theater, MFA Boston, Roulette Intermedium (NY), Shapeshifter Lab (NY), Ithra Theatre (Saudi Arabia) and Monte Carlo Salle Garnier (Monaco).
A multi-award winning and Grammy®️ nominee, Gökçe is a classically trained violinist and a performance alumna of Mersin University State Conservatory in Turkey, ‘Hanns Eisler’ School of Music in Berlin, Germany and Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. She is currently Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music.
ALPER TUZCU - Guitar
Alper Tuzcu is a guitarist, composer and a producer. A dual voting member of Grammy and Latin Grammy awards, he has collaborated and recorded songs with Grammy-winning musicians such as Marcelo Woloski (Snarky Puppy), Ganavya (Esperanza Spalding, Residente), and Javier Limón (Paco de Lucía, Wynton Marsalis).
His music has been featured on NPR, BBC Radio, RTVé, and many other media channels. His 2021 EP, Raíz, was selected as one of the Top 10 EPs of 2021 by NPR affiliate the Latin Alt HD3. His bossa nova composition "Felicidade" has over a million streams on Spotify, and his Turkish lo-fi track “Uzaklarda” (featuring Bengisu Gökçe) was featured on Spotify's editorial playlists.
Tuzcu has performed at prestigious festivals and venues including the Umbria Jazz Festival (Italy), youbloomLA Festival (Los Angeles), Shapeshifter Lab (New York), Sofar Sounds Washington D.C., among many others. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music.
MAX RIDLEY - Bass
Max Ridley is musician, composer and educator based in Boston. He first started participating in music by singing in the school choir and playing bass guitar in a punk band after school. He began his formal studies in high school at the Boston Arts Academy and it was there that he first fell in love with improvised music and the upright bass. While at Boston Arts Academy, he was selected out of many other young musicians to perform at Boston’s Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops three years in a row. Also during these years, he joined the Berklee City Music program and was able to travel to New York to play for Quincy Jones and his foundation. He was awarded full-tuition scholarships to study at Berklee College of Music for both an undergraduate and graduate degree, earning his graduate degree from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute under the direction of master pianist and educator Danilo Perez. An equally important part of his education was down the street from Berklee at Boston’s historic Wally’s Jazz Cafe. He began going to jam sessions there in high school and more recently, has been the house bass player every Friday and Saturday night with the Jason Palmer Band.
Ridley has shared the stage with renowned musicians such as Jeff Coffin, Kenny Werner, Tia Fuller, Ralph Peterson, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jack Dejohnette, Bruce Molsky, Perico Sambeat, Walter Smith III and Jerry Bergonzi. He has performed in venues such as the Blue Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Umbria Jazz Festival. He has played many different styles of music all over the US, Canada and Europe, traveling by plane and staying in hotels, as well as by van and sleeping on couches and floors. Today he is active in New England as a sideman, leader and co-leader for many different groups, both on stage and in the recording studio. He also teaches music as a guest lecturer at different colleges around New England (such as Longy School of Music and the University of New Hampshire) and at the Hamilton-Garrett Music and Arts Academy. He has also spent some time living in Valencia Spain and considers that his second home and musical community.
GEORGE LERNIS - Percussion
Born and raised in Nicosia Cyprus, George Lernis is a Grammy® Nominated percussionist and educator who currently resides in the U.S. Having grown up with the musical traditions of the Middle East/Eastern Mediterranean regions and later on getting formal training as a Jazz drummer from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, George is considered to be a bi-musical individual. In addition to his extensive training and experience on drum-set, he specializes in a number of traditional percussion instruments such as: the darbuka (goblet shaped drum), bendir (frame drum), santur (microtonal hammered dulcimer) and riq (Arabic tambourine).
George has recorded and collaborated with prominent figures such as: John Patitucci, Danilo Pérez, Antonio Sanchez, Dave Liebman, Anat Cohen, Tiger Okoshi and A Far Cry String Orchestra just to name a few. After receiving a full scholarship in 2021, George graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music Global Jazz Institute with his second master’s degree in jazz performance.
George’s latest album ''Between Two Worlds'' featuring world renowned bass player John Patitucci was released on June 10th, 2022. The music for his new album was inspired by the ongoing stereotyping of immigrants and aims to empower individuals from different ethnic backgrounds to incorporate their traditions and cultures into American Society.
