(Jazz Fusion, World Music)
This event is presented in collaboration with:
Classically-trained and multi award winner Yağmur Soydemir is a flutist, composer, arranger, educator, and humanitarian activist from Turkey, who celebrates and honors every moment and experience life offers. With her compelling music, she elegantly blends her cultural roots of Turkish musical traditions, Classical Western Music, and the more contemporary influences from Jazz and fusion genres.
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Nice Conservatory, France and a Master’s Degree from Lugano Conservatory, Switzerland, as well as a Professional Diploma in Jazz Performance, and a Master's Degree in Contemporary Performance from the Global Jazz Institute at Berklee College of Music, where she was awarded with a full-tuition scholarship twice.
Music is her playground! She is a master in exploring and representing a composer’s imagination while performing, and discovering new visions, options, and colors while arranging music. Her artistic influence generates from her classical training that taught her the importance of discipline to educate oneself, combined with life valuable experiences and lessons of adaptability and collaboration.
In February 2023, following the serious earthquakes in Turkey, she organized a project in support of the earthquake victims, titled “Earthquake Relief Project for Türkiye.” The project, co-produced with Berklee professor Kemal Oksal, took a traditional Turkish folk song and arranged it for orchestra, choir, vocal soloists, and ethnic instruments. It was later recorded and released in collaboration with Berklee Productions.
Several of her compositions are in the recording phase, while her orchestral arrangements are performed live worldwide.
(Photo Poetry)
David Graham believes that everyone has a role in this world and he wants to encourage people to connect with theirs.
From a young age he felt blessed by God with the ability to put words on paper and for those words to have an impact on people. He often uses visual aids as a connection point to bring the reader closer to the message.
“What compels me not to put the pen down is when someone tells me that they have looked again at my poem, and it has given them inspiration to move on in life.”
– David Graham, Impact Poetry.
