Turkey mourns top violinist
RIPThe eminent soloist Suna Kan, concertmaster of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra, has died at 86.
She made her debut with the orchestra in 1945 before pursuing further studies at the Paris Conservatoire.
In the 1970s she founded the TRT Ankara Chamber Orchestra with the conductor Gürer Aykal and her husband, the music critic Faruk Güvenç.
SUNA KAN (1936-2023)
Hasretle, özlemle, minnetle…
Sevgi ve saygıyla…
@suna_kan_violinist #sunakan #cihataskin pic.twitter.com/sO6rsvUn8I
— Cihat Askin (@AskinCihat) June 12, 2023
Suna Kan and Ayla Erduran were ‘recommended’ by Yehudi Menuhin to Concertdirectie Dr. Géza de Koos where I was employed at that time.
Suna Kan was a great Artist and a wonderful human being and it was a rewarding time ‘working’ for her.
R.I.P. ….
Suna Kan was not the concertmaster of Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Ankara (founded in 1826 not as a symphony orchestra but as the first modern military band of Ottoman Empire) but she was among the orchestra’s soloists for years. She also bore the title of ”State Artist” as well. She had been sent to Paris in 1949 with Idil Biret for her music education in Paris Conservatory with a special law passed in the Parliament known in Turkey as ”İdil Biret-Suna Kan Law”. Among her many appearances with national and international orchestras, she had played Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta in Istanbul.