DR. Ayşe Taşpınar Gatenyo

Ayse Taspinar, founder and president of Apricot Music & Art, is a renowned concert pianist and lead creative artist for music diplomacy projects under Apricot Music & Art. She started her music career at the National Conservatory in Turkey, earned her B.M from the Bilkent University Conservatory followed by Italy’s Giuseppe Verdi Conservatorio di Milano. She holds an M.M and P.D. from the Jacobs School of Music in Indiana University. Ayse Taspinar finalized her D.M.A program under the tutelage of world recognized pianist and pedagogue, Vitaly Margulis. She also earned a W. Ulmer Dissertation Fellowship in support of her dissertation topic, “Armenian and Turkish Piano Music in the Ottoman Empire”. She received fruitful guidance throughout her musical development from Svetlana Navarsardyan.

Ayşe Taşpınar has performed at prestigious international venues and events including her highly acclaimed presentation at the Soka Gakkai International Culture of Peace Resource Center in Los Angeles, CA. Invited to participate in their “Distinguished Speakers Series”, Ayse Taspinar offered a lecture and piano performance on the topic, “Rediscovering the shared cultural heritage of Armenians and Turks through music.” She has also performed with the UCLA Symphony as a piano soloist to perform Chopin’s second piano concerto. Active as a soloist, with orchestra, chamber musician and accompanist, Ms. Taspinar has offered concerts worldwide including New York, Washington DC, Chicago. Toronto, Ottawa, Mexico City, Caracas, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Rome, Milano, Granada, Montreal, Bloomington, Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir.

Living in different continents and traveling extensively for performances equipped Ayşe with the essential communication skills to successfully interact with peoples from different backgrounds. Her fluent mastery of English, Italian, French and Turkish helps Ayşe to engage with diverse cultures in a meaningful way. Ms. Taspinar’s passion for sharing, exchanging and uniting through music has lead her to establish the Apricot Music & Art Foundation in hopes to bring the cultures of the Middle East, Near East and Anatolia to the United States. As the leading creative artist and founder of Apricot Music & Art she continues to strive to build bridges between cultures and foster mutual learning by way of music.