Sesshin Duo
Duo gets its name and musical inspiration from Zen school. Just like the individual, by realizing the depths of its inner world getting rid of his dependence, and finding its way to freedom, the music of the 20th century started to question the sense and the deeds of listening by turning to itself, time and unmusical sounds and a new approach to music became possible through indepedence from streotypical elements of Western Music.
Başak İdil Özen
Primo
Başak İdil Özen, who began her piano education at the age of 11, took piano and violin lessons at Pera Fine Arts during her high school years. In 2009, she entered the Piano Department at Nazım Hikmet Academy, where she studied piano with Ayşe Tütüncü and music theory and harmony with Murat Opus. Between 2011 and 2015, she was a member of the Nazım Hikmet Academy Choir, participating in festivals both in Turkey and abroad.
After graduating from Istanbul University with a degree in Environmental Engineering, Özen pursued a second undergraduate education at the Music/Piano Department of Marmara University’s Fine Arts Faculty, where she studied piano with Ayşe Diriker Sipahi. She graduated with honors. In the summer of 2017, she participated in masterclasses with Michael Leslie at the Serbia-Vranje Piano Festival, with Satoko Mimura in December 2017, Wook He Jong in April 2018, Kyung Sik Yu in October 2018 and 2019, and Eva Virsik in December 2019.
At the Bilkent Piano Festival in June 2018, she had the opportunity to work with Eduardus Halim, Boaz Sharon, and Kamerhan Turan, both as a soloist and in a piano duo, performing in concerts as part of the festival.
Having completed her Pedagogical Formation education at Marmara University’s Faculty of Education, Başak İdil Özen currently teaches piano and participates in house concerts organized by Tatavla'dan Ada'ya, an initiative she co-founded. In 2017, she began her master’s degree at the Institute of Fine Arts at Marmara University, where she studied piano with Dr. Hyun Sook Tekin, completing her thesis on “Erik Satie’s Avant-garde Music and Its Influence on 20th Century Music” and graduating with high honors. Alongside her solo piano work, her first album, “Gate,” was released in July 2021 with Sesshinduo, the ensemble she co-founded to interpret 20th-century four-hand piano works. Özen is currently pursuing a doctorate in Music and Performing Arts at Yıldız Technical University.
Edmon Şar
Secondo
He began taking piano lessons with Edward Aris at the age of seven and graduated from Mustafa Kemal University State Conservatory's Piano Department in 2013. After completing his Pedagogical Formation education at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 2014, he started working as a music teacher and piano instructor. In 2016, he attended masterclasses with pianist and composer Ali Darmar and Dr. Hyun Sook Tekin. In the same year, he was accepted into the master's program at Marmara University Fine Arts Institute, Department of Music, where he continued his education with piano lessons from Dr. Sook Tekin.
He worked with Eduardus Halim, Boaz Sharon, and Kamerhan Turan during the masterclasses he attended at the Bilkent Piano Festival held in June 2018 and participated in solo concerts within the festival.
He participated in masterclasses with Kyung Sik Yu in October 2019, and Eva Virsik in December 2019.
He hosted home concerts until the pandemic began through "Tatavla'dan Ada'ya", which he co-founded and developed during a chamber music course he took in 2018.
He successfully completed his master's degree in 2019 with his thesis titled "John Cage's Creativity and Indeterminism," supervised by Dr. İlke Karcılıoğlu. In July 2021, they released their first album, "Gate," with Sesshin Duo, interpreting the works of C. Debussy, E. Satie, and M. Ravel.
Since 2023, Şar has also been working as a piano tuner and in piano maintenance.
