prof. Öykü Canpolat-Rast
Turkish violist Öykü Canpolat-Rast is considered one of the most promising young musicians of her generation. In 2015, she won both the 1st prize and the Audience Prize for the best interpretation of a classical work at the 7th International Szymon Goldberg Competition in Meißen. Since 2016, she has held the position of Associate Principal Viola in the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 2020, she transitioned to the position of Principal Viola with the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne. Since 2022, she has also been a member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, where she performs as both Principal and Associate Principal Viola.
From 2023 to 2025, Öykü Canpolat-Rast served as a Professor of Viola at the HMDK Stuttgart and will begin her new professorship at the HfMT Cologne in April 2025. She has performed as a soloist with major orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the WDR Symphony Orchestra, and the MDR Symphony Orchestra, under renowned conductors like Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Kirill Petrenko, Andris Nelsons, Daniel Harding, François-Xavier Roth, Herbert Blomstedt, Daniel Barenboim, and Alain Altinoglu. As a soloist, she has performed works including W.A. Mozart's *Sinfonia Concertante*, R. Strauss' *Don Quichotte*, C.M. von Weber's *Andante e Rondo Ungarese*, F. Schubert's *Arpeggione*, G.P. Telemann's *Viola Concerto*, and W. Walton's *Viola Concerto*. She has also participated in various chamber music CD productions. Among her chamber music partners are renowned artists such as Tabea Zimmermann, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Fazil Say, the Vogler Quartet, Matthias Buchholz, Konstantin Heidrich, Boris Garlitsky, and Alexander Hülshoff, among others.
Born in Izmir in 1993, Öykü Canpolat-Rast began her studies in 2002 with Çetin Aydar in her hometown. In 2013, she continued her bachelor’s degree at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin under Professors Pauline Sachse and Friedemann Weigle. From 2015, she studied in the class of Prof. Tabea Zimmermann at the Berlin University of the Arts and graduated in 2019 with honors (Summa Cum Laude). She performs on a viola by the Berlin luthier Tobias Seidl.