Efe Baltacigil
Efe Baltacigil, cellist, will perform the final installment of Lee University’s 2018-19 Presidential Concert Series on Thursday, March 28, in Pangle Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Originally from Turkey, Mr. Baltacigil began playing cello at age five. He has performed alongside Pinchas Zukerman, Midori, and Yo-Yo Ma at Carnegie Hall. In addition to appearing as a soloist in the Schumann Cello Concerto with the Curtis Chamber Orchestra, he is also a member of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society Two.
“In one sentence, Efe is the new Yo-Yo Ma,” says Theodore Kartal, former teacher of Baltacigil and instructor of cello in the Lee University School of Music. “He is the new, rising internationally-known young star performing all over the world. He has an incredible gift.”
In his concert at Lee, Mr. Baltacigil will perform two much-loved and familiar masterpieces: an unaccompanied Bach cello suite and a popular Franck sonata, joined by pianist Jessica Choe.
Mr. Baltacigil most recently performed in venues such as the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Curtis Institute of Music.
In 2005, he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He was also awarded the Peter Jay Sharp Prize and the Washington Performing Arts Society Prize. The Washington Post wrote that Mr. Baltacigil “courts attention rather than grasping for it, naturally drawing the ear into his subtle, rich range of expression.”
Mr. Baltacigil received his bachelor’s degree from Mimar Sinan University Conservatory and an artistic diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with Peter Wiley and David Soyer.
Tickets for the concert are $15 for adults and $5 for students and seniors and are available for purchase at the Lee University Box Office in the Dixon Center or by contacting 614-8343, one week prior to the event, between 3-6 p.m. Tickets are also available at https://www.showclix.com/event/efe-baltacigil.
To learn more about Mr. Baltacigil, visit http://www.efebaltacigil.net/.
For more information about the Presidential Concert Series, visit http://www.leeuniversity.edu/pcs/ or call the School of Music at 614-8240.