A multi-award-winning classical and jazz flutist, composer, arranger, and recording artist, Yağmur Soydemir is Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music, Principal Flutist of the Turkish American Orchestra, and a Jazz Flute Committee Member of the National Flute Association, based in Boston, MA, USA. She has received numerous awards in international solo flute, chamber music, and composition competitions across Europe and the USA, and performed with more than 20 prominent symphony orchestras worldwide, in addition to numerous solo and chamber performances on major stages, radio, and television, presenting her original compositions.

Expanding her expertise in classical music for over 20 years, she is also an active jazz performer, regularly appearing with her own jazz band projects and big band orchestras. She has performed at a wide range of prestigious venues such as MGM Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, Berklee Performance Center, Harvard Club of Boston, Neidorff-Karpati Hall, Emerson Colonial Theatre, Lincoln Theatre, State Theatre New Jersey, Kupferberg Center for the Arts, Bergen Performing Arts Center, Charleston Music Hall, Center Stage Theater, Carolina Theatre, Florida Theatre, Kravis Center Performing Arts, Miami Beach Bandshell, Ridgefield Playhouse and more. She also performs annually at Turkish National Day Ceremonies hosted by the Boston Turkish Consulate at the Boston Turkish Consulate Residency, the Turkish Consulate in New York City, and the Massachusetts and Rhode Island State Houses. She toured as Special Guest Flutist with The Buena Vista Orchestra on its 2025 North American Tour, appearing in 14 theater shows across Boston, Danbury, Englewood, Queens, New Brunswick, Washington, Durham, Charleston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, and Miami Beach.

Her honors and awards include the Grand Prize (above First Prize) at the CAI Competition in New York City (2025), with an invitation to perform her original compositions at Carnegie Hall; Third Prize at the Boston International Composition Competition in the 'Composition for Orchestra' category (2025); and the Berklee Faculty Recording Grant (2025) from Berklee College of Music. In 2024, she received a nomination for the Excellence in Activism Award at the Best of Berklee Awards. In 2023, she was awarded the Diversity and Inclusion Grant for her humanitarian initiative, Earthquake Relief Project for Türkiye. She received 2 full-tuition (%100) merit-based scholarship awards to pursue both her Master’s and Bachelor’s Degrees at Berklee College of Music (2024 and 2020), as well as the Turkish Jazz Talent Scholarship from the Jazz Society of Türkiye (2020). Her international competition distinctions include First Prize at the 9th Chamber Music Competition of Nice, France (2019), First Prize at the Flute Orchestra Competition of Nice, France (2019), Second Prize at the International Solo Flute Competition of Nice, France (2018), and First Prize at the International Chamber Music Competition of Cannes, France (2017), presented by the A Travers La Flûte French Association.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in 'Flute Performance' from Nice Conservatory in France, a Master’s Degree in the same field from Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland, a Professional Diploma with a dual major in 'Contemporary Writing & Production' and 'Jazz Performance' from Berklee College of Music, and a second Master’s Degree in 'Global Jazz' from Berklee College of Music, where she was awarded a full-tuition scholarship 2 times.

As a composer and arranger, Yağmur’s original works have been performed by small ensembles and orchestras, with notable performances in Türkiye and the USA. She has performed as a soloist with several orchestras, presenting her own arrangements with the Turkish American Orchestra, her original compositions with the Berklee Musicians Orchestra, and as featured soloist with Les Flûtes d’Azur and the Başkent Chamber Orchestra.

Alongside her artistic projects, she has been actively involved in community service, volunteering in programs supporting orphans in Ankara, Türkiye, and serving as a children’s choir conductor. In Boston, she has performed in numerous outreach concerts and co-produced the Earthquake Relief Project for Türkiye, a collaborative initiative bringing together 80 musicians from 30 countries, released in partnership with Berklee Productions to raise donations for earthquake victims in Türkiye.

In 2025, she served as a Jury Panel Member for the Jazz Flute Big Band Competition of the National Flute Association of the USA, and in 2023, as a Jury Panel Member for the Outstanding Türkiye International Jazz Music Competition by the METU Jazz Society in Ankara, Türki.

In addition to serving as a Jazz Committee Member at the National Flute Association in the USA, she is a member of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), the Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP), and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). She is also a signed artist with The Orchard.

Her professional experience also includes roles as a Rating Auditions Assistant in the Ensemble Department at Berklee College of Music, Graduate Assistant at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, and a Studio Recording Artist at the Berklee Film Scoring Studio Orchestra in the Screen Scoring Department.

Currently, alongside performing, composing, arranging, and recording, Yağmur is a dedicated educator, offering both online and in-person flute instruction, as well as specialized career coaching for musicians across a variety of professional topics.

One of the sought after musicians of his generation, Turkish-American conductor, historical keyboard player and pianist Tolga Atalay ÜN was born in 1995.


Playing as a soloist with the Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra, as well as conducting them from the keyboard in the opening concert of 33rd International Ankara Music Festival in April 2016 won him a great recognition amongst the musical authorities. In March 2019, he played the piano in the concert organized for the annual President’s Visit from His Majesty King Charles III to the Royal College of Music in London.


In February 2022, he conducted the Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Türkiye from the harpsichord, in his first concert with them, and became one of the youngest conductors to do so.


In his career starting right after that, he performed as a conductor, harpsichordist and pianist with L’Orchestra Roma Sinfonietta, Kaunas State Musical Theater Orchestra, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, CRR Symphony Orchestra, Olten Philharmonic Orchestra, Ankara State Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Antalya State Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Mersin State Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Samsun State Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Izmir State Symphony Orchestra, Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra, Antalya State Symphony Orchestra, Bursa Regional State Symphony Orchestra, TRNC Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Orkestra Akademik Başkent and Karşıyaka Municipality Chamber Orchestra.


During his student years, he had conducted Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra, Bodrum Chamber Orchestra, Hacettepe Youth Symphony Orchestra and Hitit Philharmonic Orchestra (a volunteer orchestra that he formed with his friends). Hitit Philharmonic Orchestra’s first performance was at the annual celebrations for the foundation of Ankara State Conservatory, in which he also conducted his own orchestral work which he composed for the orchestra.


His recent prizes and medals include the ‘Service in Profession Award’ for 2022-2023 by Ankara Beysukent Rotary Club, the 2021 ‘Mills Williams Medal’ at the RCM, the ‘Beethoven Medal’ from the Worshipful Company of Musicians as a result of winning the First Prize and the ‘Thomas Harris Beethoven Award’ at the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe’s 2017 Senior Intercollegiate Piano Competition; the First Prize, as well as the Prize for the Best Performance of A.A.Saygun and the Audience Prize at the 4th Ahmed Adnan Saygun Piano Competition in Türkiye, 2017; the First Prize at the Kendall Taylor Beethoven Competition at the RCM in 2017, the Second Prize at the Broadwood Horniman Harpsichord Competition in November 2015, the ‘Jury’s Special Award’ at “The National Chopin Piano Competition” in 2010, which was organized jointly by Başkent University and Bahçelievler Rotary Club in Ankara, Türkiye under the auspices of the Polish Embassy, to commemorate Chopin’s 200th birthday and the ‘Honourable Mention Prize’ at the Fourth International Istanbul Pera Piano Competition in 2009.


Sharing the stage with world-famous artists such as Željko Lučić, Bruno de Sá, Nils Wanderer, Simone Piazzola, Soyoung Yoon, Pavel Šporcl, Rebekka Hartmann, Miguel da Silva, Gülsin Onay and Özgür Aydın, Ün played numerous concerts in many different countries, such as Türkiye, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania and Romania; and in prestigious concert halls such as Roma Auditorium Parco Della Musica, London Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room, Cadogan Hall, St.Martin-in-the-Fields, St.James’s Piccadilly, Drapers’ Hall, Steinway Hall London, Regent Hall, Handel House London, St. Mary’s Perivale London, RCM Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, Embassy of Türkiye in London, London Abbey Road Studios, London Conway Hall, Salzburg Mozarteum, Bayerische Musikakademie Marktoberdorf, CSO Ada Ankara, Izmir Ahmed Adnan Saygun Cultural Centre, Istanbul Atatürk Cultural Centre, Boğaziçi University Albert Long Hall, Istanbul CRR Concert Hall, Istanbul Iş Sanat Towers, German Consulate General in Istanbul, Istanbul Arter Museum, Istanbul Notre Dame de Sion High School, Embassy of France in Ankara, Ankara MEB Şura Concert Hall, Bilkent Concert Hall, Antalya Cultural Centre, Aspendos Ancient Theatre and Mersin State Opera and Ballet.


He studied piano with Sibel Özgün, Prof.Norma Fisher and Prof.Niel Immelman; Historical Performance and Historical Keyboard Instruments with Prof.Terence Charlston and Prof.Robert Woolley and conducting with Orhun Orhon, İbrahim Yazıcı, Burak Tüzün, Peter Stark, Howard Williams, and Lior Shambadal, first at the Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory, from where he graduated with the “Top of the School Award”; and then at the Royal College of Music London, where he received his Bachelor of Music (Honours) with First Class, Master of Performance (MPerf) with Distinction and Artist Diploma. During his studies in London he obtained the titles ‘Mills Williams Junior Fellow’, ‘C. Bechstein Scholar supported by a Christopher Hogwood Scholarship’ and ‘Kenneth and Violet Scott Scholar’ at the RCM. He was also generously supported by Sevda-Cenap And Music Foundation and Talent Unlimited for his studies in London. From 2016 to 2021, he was a scholar in the ‘Young Musicians on World Stages’ (YMWS) system created and mentored by Güher & Süher Pekinel with financial support of TÜPRAŞ. He took lessons on Modern Music History and Contemporary Music Techniques given by a famous Turkish composer İlhan Baran in 2009-2013. In 2004, he was accepted as a member to the Polyphonic Children’s Choir of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, conducted by Ahter Destan, Atilla Çağdaş Değer and Çiğdem Aytepe.

During 2004-2009, he participated in many concerts and tours as a choir member and accompanist, including a concert tour in the Czech Republic with The Prague Bonifantes Boys’ Choir, singing in Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Nutcracker’ and being one of the three chorists in the opening concert of Samsun Opera. In 2007, he was offered a place to start his professional studies at the Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory. During his seven-year conservatory education there he gave many concerts, premiered many pieces and made many radio recordings (including recordings with TRT, the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) as a pianist, conductor, chamber musician, accompanist and chorist.

Having worked as a lecturer at the Ankara Music and Fine Arts University for a term starting from October 2021, and holding positions as Assistant Music Director between 2023-2024 and General Music Director of the Ankara State Opera and Ballet between 2024-2025, Ün still continues his professional work as a conductor, pianist and harpsichordist, and works as a conductor at the Ankara State Opera and Ballet.