Eylül Esme Bolucek
Eylül Esme Bolucek, 22, was born in Ankara, Turkey. She had her first recital at age 9 and her first solo appearance with an orchestra at age 10 when she performed Mozart Piano Concerto No. 12. She has had numerous solo and chamber performances throughout Europe and North America, and attended music festivals among which are Aspen Music Festival and Summer Academy Mozarteum. She has studied with esteemed piano pedagogues including Robert Levin, Dina Yoffe, Dmitri Alexxev, and Andrea Bonnata. She has had solo and ensemble performances in Benedict Music Tent, Weill Recital Hall, Morse Hall, Paul Hall among others. Esme is currently continuing her studies in Juilliard under Professor Yoheved Kaplinsky.
Interview with Esme
Why Juilliard? For me, the reason Juilliard is where I really wanted to be is my incredible piano teacher, all the classes, the faculty, and the amazing students here that inspire me
What are you most excited for this school year? I am very excited about my history course, Music and the Museum, which studies the intersections of music history and visual art, and specifically deals with the Met Museum. We will visit the Met Museum as a class several times and even have a date set to create a program and stage a performance in one of the halls. I am really looking forward to this!
How has attending Juilliard helped you develop personally and creatively? One of the ways in which attending Juilliard has helped me develop is by putting me in artistic and personal situations which were unfamiliar, surprising, or intimidating in some way, only for me to discover for myself that they were enjoyable and nothing to be scared of. So in a way I have learned the most important lesson of my late teens and early twenties, which is to meet things “head on.”
Aspirations I love writing, and I love using writing to create imaginative programs! I aspire to get better at writing about music. I also aspire to achieve a wide repertoire to be able to program and perform evocative and engaging programs.
Please describe your most memorable experience thus far? One of my most memorable experiences thus far has been being addressed as “Ms. Bölücek” by an undergraduate student, whose class I was TA’ing. I could not believe it. Who is “Ms. Bölücek?” Not me! I am still a child! Call me Esme!