Pop diva Sertab Erener conducted the festive opening of Turkey Now! with pianist/arranger Tuluğ Tırpan in a crossover with the Metropole Orchestra conducted by Arjan Tien. Sertab Erener was the 2003 winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. A unique chance to see this Turkish diva perform live in an orchestral setting!
Sertab Erener studied at the Istanbul State Conservatory. At the start of her career she performed with various bands and later worked as a background vocalist for Sezen Aksu. Her first solo album Sakin Ol was released in 1992, followed in 1994 by La’l and subsequently by the 1996 album Sertab Gibi. In 2000 she made inroads into the international charts with her a capella version of the song ‘Zor Kadin’ by the band Voice Male.  The same year also saw the release of her single ‘Bu Yaz’. It contained a duet with Ricky Martin, titled ‘Private Emotions’, and the duet ‘Ask/Fos’ with the Greek singer Mando. She also covered several song by the late Fikret Kizilok, a famous Anatolian rock singer.


For most of us, our first introduction to Sertab Erener would have been her performance at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest, when she won first prize representing Turkey with ‘Every way that I can’. Furthermore ‘Every way that I can’ was voted one of the top nine songs to be performed at the song festival over the past 50 years and became a global hit. Sertab excelled again in each and every track of the 2005 album Ask Ölmez, for which she wrote both the lyrics and all the music. In 2007 she was voted Turkey’s Best Artist at the MTV Music Awards.


Sabri Tuluğ Tırpan was born in Istanbul, Turkey, on December 28, 1970. In his early years, Tulug enjoyed private music lessons in piano, jazz improvisation, jazz harmony and music theory. He was awarded a full scholarship by Bilkent University, Ankara in 1989, where he studied both composition and piano with such outstanding teachers as Martin Berkofsky and Namik Sultanov (Azize Mustapha Zaddeh’s piano teacher). In 1992, he transferred to the Vienna Conservatory where he studied piano with Gerhard Geretschlaeger and University of Vienna where he studied composition-music theory with Ivan Eröd and chamber music with Avedis Kouyoumdjian.

While he was studying in Vienna, he was influenced by and had the chance to work with great artists such as composer Jorge Sánchez-Chiong (Tulug premiered his solo piano work “Reflections of Invisibles”), t. saxophonist Nicholas Simion (Miles Davis Jazz Festival in Poland, Charles Mingus Evening, Porgy & Bess - Vienna), violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja (Vienna Festival, Thracian Festival in Bulgaria), violinist Tomo Keller (Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Concerts, Germany tour where he premiered Tulug’s “Reflections” composed for the victims of the 1999 earthquake in Turkey), violinist Daniel Pergamenschikow (Internationales Musik Festival Davos - Young artists in concert), soprano Kristiane Kaiser (Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival) just to name a few.

His first recording experience in November 1998 was Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 “Elvira Madigan” with The Vidin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nayden Todorov released throughout the world on the MMO label.
Starting early in his career, Tulug performed in many solo and chamber music concerts, among which we can mention Homage to Richard Strauß, Meiningen Opera Orchestra conducted by Kyrill Petrenko Mozart A Major Piano Conc. Nr. 24, Silver Bay Summer Festival USA, Touring Canada with the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Turkish Republic, Concerts in Ottawa and Toronto, CRR First Piano Festival Istanbul, and Jeunesse Bach Festival 2000 Vienna. Tours led the young pianist to many other countries such as Slovakia, France, Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, and Switzerland.
In the meantime, Tulug received an invitation from drummer Fernando Paiva to join in his project focused on Brazilian music, which had a significant impact in his musical development. After a year, the project released its debut album “Santos de Casa”, a homage to Brazilian composers, which was chosen as the CD of the month by Jazz Magazine, Vienna. The band (www.fernandopaiva.com) played in such festivals and clubs as Birdland (Vienna), Samba Festival (Graz), Jazz over Villach - 8. Internationales Festival (Villach), Meck à Frick (Switzerland), Porgy & Bess (Vienna), to name a few.
Tulug also cooperated in occasional concerts with his native country’s leading popular music figures such as the 2003 Eurovision contest winner Sertab Erener performing upon her kindly invitation in Istanbul Open Air Theater with Guvenc Dagustun and Fernando Paiva Group.

Tulug had his first contact with musical theater through the Performing Arts Studios of Vienna (PASV-www.performingcenter.at) where he coaches vocal groups and the choir. In 2002, in cooperation with PASV, he composed his critically acclaimed first musical “HEARTS” (Storyline, song texts: Dardis McNamee), which was highly praised by the Musical Cocktail magazine as “the best music composed in German-speaking countries in recent years.” In 2003, he arranged Borodin’s “In the Steppes of Central Asia” for 2 pianos and composed “A Phantasy on Mozart’s Alla Turca” for world renowned piano duo Ferhan and Ferzan Önder, both of which were included in their latest album “1001 Nights” released by EMI Records. Next, Tulug was commissioned to compose a Messe which he delivered for orchestra, choir, soloists and jazz band. On the summer of 2004, his second Music Theater production based on Bonmarché’s “Figaro” (scherzo.at, written by Daniel Große Boymann, song texts by Sam Madwar) was staged with great success in Klagenfurt’s ORF Theater during Klagenfurt Summer Festival. Tulug reconstructed Mozart’s music in jazz forms, which was described by critics as having “great depth and fine taste”. He also composed film music for various movies such as “Free Radicals” (2003) (directed by Barbara Albert) Hotel (2004) (directed by Jessica Hausner and screened at the Cannes Film Festival 2004 under the section Un Certain Regard) and “Crash Test Dummies” (2004) (directed by Jörg Kalt)

Recently, he works on his first solo CD project where he focuses on his native country’s ethnic musical legacy and influences he received from many wonderful musicians such as Franz Liszt, George Antheil, György Ligeti, John Coltrane, Richie Beirach, Egberto Gismonti, and Chucho Valdez. The album is slated to be released by Fishtank Label in Fall 2005.
No matter what genre he focuses, the insightful and sophisticated musical journey of this promising musician will have much to offer to those who find in music the power to discover their very core and reach out to the world.

The Dutch Metropole Orkest was established in 1945. The ensemble of 17 has since expanded to become a large orchestra of approximately fifty renowned musicians. The Metropole Orkest provides musical accompaniment for various Dutch television and radio programs and performs numerous concerts, both in the Netherlands and abroad.
The orchestra has a wide-ranging repertoire and will as readily play jazz or perform classical music as it will provide accompaniment for cabaret. Big names that have performed with this orchestra include Charles Aznavour, Arif Sag, Shirley Bassey and Andrea Bocelli. In 2007 the Metropole Orchestra under the direction of Arjan Tien opened the first Turkey Now Festival together with Sezen Aksu. This fine new tradition will be consolidated by their opening concert of Turkey Now 2008 with Sertab Erener and Fahir Atakoglu.