Cultural Diplomacy Lecture-Recital Progam featuring Dr. Evren Kutlay

UGA's Musicology Ethnomusicology Student Association and Postcolonial Collective present a Cultural Diplomacy Lecture-Recital Progam featuring Dr. Evren Kutlay and student performers from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. Dr. Kutlay will present a lecture-recital highlighting the role of music in fostering diplomatic and cultural exchanges between the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Türkiye, and the West. 

Kutlay graduated from German teaching Cagaloglu Anatolian High School and Bogazici University Mathematics Department while studying at Istanbul University State Conservatory Piano Department. Afterward, she studied with a full scholarship at the University of West Georgia. She received her MBA and MM in Piano Performance degrees with high honors and worked as a GRA both in the Business and Music departments as well as for the University President’s Business class offered to honors students. During her studies in the US, she was awarded the “Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Scholars Award” for her successful business studies. She received the “Award of Excellence” at GMTA (Georgia Music Teachers Association) piano competition, the “Star of the Year” award from MTNA (Music Teachers National Association), and was invited to become a member of MTNA. She completed her Ph.D. in Musicology at Istanbul University. She works as a Professor of Music at Istanbul Zaim University and was the Newell Visiting Scholar at Georgia College and State University during Spring 2024.

In addition to her regular solo piano and chamber music concerts throughout Europe and the US, she continues her research in “Ottoman-European and Ottoman-American musical interactions.” She has articles published in nationally and internationally peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, several book chapters, as well as four books, titled “Osmanlının Avrupalı Müzisyenleri” (European Musicians of the Ottoman Empire), "100 Soruda Osmanlı Müziği" (Ottoman Music in 100 Questions), “An Introduction to Western Music History,” “Géza Hegyei: A Hungarian Musician at the Ottoman Court.” Moreover, she has a solo piano CD recording, “Dersaadette Avrupa Müziği” (European Music in Ottoman Istanbul).

In 2011, she was awarded the WPTA (World Piano Teachers Association) Diploma of Excellence Accredit, the highest esteemed accolade at WPC (World Piano Conference) in Serbia for her paper titled “Ottoman Piano Literature” In appreciation of her outstanding commitment to introducing the rich heritage of Turkish Culture and History through her research and performances in the area of Music of the Ottoman Empire, she was awarded Special Recognition from the American Congress and commissioned as “Honorary Texan” by the State of Texas. Moreover, November 8, 2013, was proclaimed “Dr. Evren Kutlay Day” by the Mayor of Houston, Texas. In 2017, the Turkish Cultural Foundation (TCF) awarded her the Fellowship in Turkish Culture and Arts to present her paper titled “Hints of Ottoman American Musical Interactions during Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Centuries” at the International Conference on Turkish Arts, Literature, and Culture in New York. She was a Visiting Scholar at Rutgers University American Studies Department in October 2019.