In 2006, an 8-year-old Berfin Aksu became the youngest soloist in Turkey to ever play with an orchestra. Beginning her career at a young age in Ankara, she was awarded first place in violin competitions and soon found herself performing on the international stage.
Some of her notable performances include recitals at Wigmore Hall, Tonhalle Hall, and concerts with Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, and Kammerphilharmonie Bodensee Orchestra.
In 2011, Berfin won the Young Musician of the Year award in the Andante Classical Music Awards. She studied with Lutsia Ibragimova at the Yehudi Menuhin School from 2012 until 2016.
Aksu gave a TEDx speech in March 2017 at Bilkent Laboratory International School in Ankara. In the following months, Berfin began improvising with musicians and artists across genres and traditions, drawing from a cornucopia of world instruments and vocal timbres. In October 2019, Sony Classical published an album of Max Bruch pieces featuring Berfin as the solo violinist on “Adagio Appassionato”.
Berfin was invited to play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Bursa Symphony Orchestra in 2022, before graduating from the Royal Academy of Music where she studied with Jack Liebeck.
As a multidisciplinary musician and performance artist with a heightened focus on violin, voice, and composition, Berfin creates bridges between diverse music and art forms, weaving soundscapes with lyrics and movement for her solo and collaborative projects. She continues to encapsulate audiences with her emotional depth and expressiveness to this day.
Written by; Micah Jacobs
In artist’s own words;
There are maybe infinite different sentences to be shared about a past, about the feeling of performing, growing up in the public eye, and how everything weaved together behind the scenes. I used to keep a longer bio on my website, however, I have come to appreciate the way even a bio can be written, and be brought to the audience. Truthfully, I often felt a disconnect in myself reading mine and many other artists’ bios, and maybe this is just me, but I always wanted to see into the artist more, not only about what they have done, but unique details about them.
Of course, that being said,
Please feel free to inquire about any further information related to my background as an artist, and my accomplishments.