Nurullah Ejder

Biography

Nurullah Ejder (1995), born in Berlin, has been playing the Kanun – plucked
zither – in various ensembles for more than fifteen years. His family is originally
from the culturally diverse and historic city of Şanlıurfa in Southeast Turkey. He
received his musical education from the maestro Nuri Karademirli (1950-2013).
Even at a young age he took part in numerous television programs of the
Turkish state broadcaster “TRT”. For three years he worked as an instructor for
the sections “Makam music” and “Kanun” at the Turkish Conservatory in Berlin.
He played for over 6 months Musical at the German National Theater (DNT) in
Weimar. Nurullah joined numerous concerts at the Philharmonic Hall in Berlin.
(Concert series Klangfarben) Meanwhile, he worked with respected conductors
such as Simon Halsey and Lior Shambadal. Furthermore, he has been invited
many times by Turkish ambassadors in Berlin and Colombo to state festivities
for music.

Due to the multicultural diversity in Berlin, he had the opportunity to make
music together with Musicians of the Sephardic Jewish community in Berlin,
which gave him great insights into a new world of music for him.
In 2016 he received a scholarship from the Giorgio Cini Foundation (Venice)
and participated at the Birûn Seminar of the IISMC (Institute for Comparative
Music Studies) where he made acquaintance with Persian, Greek and Italian
musicians. Furthermore, he participated in various master classes by famous
Kudsi Erguner, Halil Karaduman, Ross Daly and Nail Yavuzoğlu. Since 2017 he
has been studying composition at the state conservatory in Istanbul (ITÜ).
Besides his studies he is participating in various international concerts.
He also teaches Kanun and has many students from different countries
worldwide like in Israel, Iran, Turkey and Germany. In addition to his studies at
the Conservatory, he is currently also working as a accompanist and
occasionally giving seminars on Turkish and Ottoman music in various
European universities. He participated in the “SKG Bridges” Festival held in
Greece (Thessaloniki) in 2019 as performer and composer.
He took strong effort in reviving the ceasing culture of fasıl music, that is, a 19th
century urban musical suit form where pieces are placed without brakes in
between over the course of a concert- by initiating collective group works with
young musicians in Istanbul.
His compositions draw inspiration from both Western classical and Turkish
makam music. His vision for the future is to reinforce and facilitate the musical
cooperation between Orient and Occident. His fundamental circumstances, be it
in cultural terms or the family origin, give him the optimal conditions for this.
Discography
Ensemble Bîrûn-2017 Ensemble Bîrûn – I compositori greci del maqâm
ottomano (The Greek Composers of the Ottoman Maqâm) (Nota, 2017)
March of the Music – Lila Müzik – Türkiye – 2021