Rasih Ozturk
Rasih Ozturk is a composer, guitarist, arranger/ producer, orchestral conductor and an educator from Izmir, Turkey. He started being interested in music by learning to play the keyboard that his father bought on his 11th birthday, by himself. That year, his mother also bought him a guitar which changed his life.
He studied primary school and high school in Izmir, Turkey. He didn’t officially or privately take any music lessons until he started his studies in the United States, but in high school, he had a life-changing moment when he met his music teacher, Mustafa Kamcici. He has always been a life mentor for Rasih. Another life changing moment for Rasih was when he met Anil Altinsoy, who is a Composition and Conducting faculty at Dokuz Eylul University State Conservatory. Anil introduced him to classical composition, orchestration and conducting. He has always shared his knowledge generously with Rasih like an older brother.
After he graduated from high school, he was accepted and received some scholarships from various invitations institutions around the United States, such as Los Angeles College of Music, Berklee College of Music, the Collective School of Music NY and McNally Smith College of Music. Eventually, he decided to start his studies at McNally Smith in 2016. At McNally Smith, he tested out music theories, key lab, ear training and guitar classes. After he moved back to Turkey, Rasih also kept studying Advanced Composition and Orchestration. He met Kavyesh Kaviraj, Kenny Watson and Drew Stinson in his ensemble lessons and they formed their jazz band “Jazz international”.
Currently, he teaches music, writes music education books, plays live music, composes, produces and arranges music in Izmir, Turkey.