Awarded every year since 2012 by İKSV to promising young classical musicians, the Aydın Gün Encouragement Award of 15,000 TL is granted to the 21 year-old violinist Veriko Tchumburidze in its sixth edition.
Referring to the award, İKSV Chairman Bülent Eczacıbaşı said, "The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts is delighted to support young talent that we believe will excel in the classical music world in the near future. With this encouragement award named after Aydın Gün, who made a huge contribution to both the development of İKSV and of culture and the arts in Turkey as our Foundation's General Director for almost 20 years, we are pleased to support another young musician this year. I sincerely congratulate dear Veriko Tchumburidze, who performed at the Istanbul Music Festival in 2013, as a soloist in the opening concert, and entranced festival audiences again in 2016. Veriko has successfully represented our country abroad with concerts and awards and we will follow her future achievements with happiness and pride."
Veriko Tchumburidze was born to a musician family in Adana in 1996. After training with her mother Lili Tchumburidze, she began her education at Mersin University State Conservatory. In 2004, she won the Gülden Turalı National Violin Competition and the Georgian National Competition in 2006. After receiving the scholarship of the "Young Musicians on World Stages" project initiated and mentored by Güher & Süher Pekinel, Tchumburidze studied at the Vienna University of Music and the Performing Arts. In 2012 she attracted attention in the international arena after winning the first prize at the 7th International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, which was followed by another first prize at the 15th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in 2016.
She performed at the opening concert of the 41st Istanbul Music Festival and was invited to participate in the Seiji Ozawa Academy Masterclass and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland. In 2016 she performed at the 44th Istanbul Music Festival as a member of Trio Arte ensemble and she was awarded the first prize with this ensemble in chamber music category at Pietro Argento International Music Competition. To this day, Tchumburidze has played with international orchestras such as the Züricher Kammerorchester, the Münchener Kammerorchester, the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the Mariinski Theather Orchestra, the Borusan Philarmonic Orchestra and the Sinfonia Varsovia. She also released a CD series with the Munich Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Howard Griffiths and recorded John Williams' music to Schindler's List with the Brandenburgisches Kammerorchester for Sony Classics.
The Aydın Gün Encouragement Award's is granted to a young musician under the age of 30 who's studying or working in the fields of instrument, voice, composition, or conducting. The selection committee is led by İKSV General Director Görgün Taner, and consists of conductor and State Artist Rengim Gökmen, opera director Yekta Kara, violinist Cihat Aşkın, Borusan Sanat General Manager Ahmet Erenli, and Istanbul Music Festival Director Yeşim Gürer Oymak.
Aydın Gün Encouragement Award winners are on world stages
Presented by İKSV every year to a musician under the age of 30, the Aydın Gün Encouragement Award's previous recipients were violinist Hande Küden, cellist Cansın Kara, double bassist Salih Emre Şahin and violinist Emre Engin and marimbist Elman Mecid respectively. The young artists who has won the Aydın Gün Encouragement Award so far are all pursuing a bright career in their fields.
Recipient of the 1st Aydın Gün Encouragement Award, Hande Küden, born in 1992, was chosen to the youth programme of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in June 2015, performing in nearly 40 concerts in the orchestra. In September 2016, Küden was appointed as the Assistant Concertmaster of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, one of the world's best orchestras.
Recipient of the 2nd Aydın Gün Encouragement Award, cellist Cansın Kara, born in 1995, continues his education with cellist Wen-Sinn Yang at the Munich University of Music and Theatre since the fall of 2014.
The winner of the 3rd Aydın Gün Encouragement Award, Salih Emre Şahin was also born in 1995 and he continues his undergraduate education at the Royal Music Academy in London with scholarship.
The winner of 2015, Emre Engin was born in 1991 and finished his master's degree in Pinchas Zukerman's class at the New York Manhattan School of Music. He is the co-founder of the Nomad Ensemble, with which he regularly performs, and the co-founder of the International Notes by the Bay Violin Festival in the USA.
The winner of 2016, Elman Mecid continues his undergraduate education at HfMT University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg with Cornelia Monske and is regularly invited to the concerts of Hamburg Symphony Orchestra as a supporting artist since 2015.