Concert
THE YAĞMUR SOYDEMİR QUARTET
Yağmur Soydemir, flute
Utar Artun, piano
Youngchae Jeong, bass
Mark Walker, drums
The Yağmur Soydemir Quartet, led by the award-winning flutist, composer, and arranger Yağmur Soydemir, and featuring pianist Utar Artun, bassist Youngchae Jeong, and Grammy/Latin Grammy Award–winning drummer Mark Walker, bring their dynamic jazz performance to the Festival.
YAĞMUR SOYDEMİR, flute
A flutist, composer, arranger, recording artist, Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music, Flute Faculty at Brookline Music School, and a Jazz Flute Committee Member at the National Flute Association of the USA, Yağmur Soydemir has earned numerous awards in international solo flute and chamber music competitions across Europe. She has performed with more than 20 prominent symphony orchestras across Türkiye, Europe, and the USA, in addition to delivering numerous solo and chamber music performances on live stages, radio, and television programs.
Expanding her expertise in classical music, she frequently performs with her own jazz band and in jazz big bands at prestigious venues, including the Berklee Performance Center, MGM Music Hall in Boston, and Carnegie Hall. As a composer and arranger, Yağmur’s works have been performed by small ensembles and orchestras with notable performances in Türkiye and the USA. She recently performed with Bueno Vista Social Club in their U.S. tour.
She earned a Bachelor's Degree in “Flute Performance” from the Nice Conservatory in France, studied her first Master’s Degree in “Flute Performance” at the Conservatorio Della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland, followed by a “Professional Diploma” with a dual-major in “Contemporary Writing & Production” and “Jazz Performance” from Berklee College of Music, as well as earning another Master's Degree in “Contemporary Performance (Global Jazz Concentration)” from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.
UTAR ARTUN, piano
Utar Artun is an acclaimed composer, arranger, and musician. He is a faculty member at Berklee College of Music. He graduated from Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory, and from Berklee College of Music summa cum laude, receiving numerous accolades. His compositions were featured on Jazz Revaluation Records CDs. In 2011, he performed with legendary guitarist Kevin Eubanks. He performed and recorded with world-renowned artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Dave Weckl, Jojo Mayer, Antonio Sanchez, Mark Guiliana, A.R. Rahman, Simon Shaheen, Dave Holland, Eddie Gomez, Jason Moran, and many others. He also participated in groundbreaking projects like Rhythm of the Universe and Berklee Yo-Team as an arranger, performer, conductor, and orchestrator. He also composed Yüz Yılın Yıldızı, an official anthem for the 100th Anniversary of the Turkish Republic, featuring a 100-piece choir and symphonic orchestra.
Artun holds a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory with Academic Honors. He has composed and arranged more than 160 works for symphony orchestras and over 300 pieces for brass bands and big bands, with his music performed across the United States, Switzerland, Turkey, Netherlands, China, Canada, Taiwan, Singapore, Czech Republic, and Russia. He has also served as an arranger for the Ankara Kent Big Band and the Musical Director for the Classical Oasis Ensemble. Additionally, Artun is a voting member of The Recording Academy for the Grammy Awards and a member of SCI, NACUSA, Çağdaş Türk Bestecileri, and BMI.
YOUNGCHAE JEONG, bass
Youngchae Jeong is a bassist from Seoul, South Korea. He graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2018. He has performed with Ralph Peterson Jr., Neal Smith, Javon Jackson, Darren Barrett, Russell Taylor, and Jonathan Hoard. He has performed sold-out shows at famed venues, including Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (NYC), Smalls (NYC), Side Door Bar (Connecticut), Jazz Loft (Stony Brook, NY), Scullers (Boston), Regatta Bar (Boston), Wally’s Café Jazz Club (Boston), Berklee Performance Center, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston), Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, Rockwood Music Hall in New York City, and Lilypad. He has supported the Voice Department as a bass accompanist since 2015 and the Ensemble Department since 2021. He shares his talent for jazz, soul, funk, hip-hop, gospel, and classical music as well as his joy for the bass with audiences everywhere.
MARK WALKER, drummer
Mark Walker is a Grammy/Latin Grammy Award–winning drummer, a Grammy Award–nominated composer, and a renowned author and educator originally from Chicago. Currently a member of Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval’s group, he is one of the only American drummers equally at home with authentic South American and Caribbean rhythms, straight-ahead jazz, rock, funk and studio drumming. Since 1989, he has performed around the world, touring extensively and/or recording with the group Oregon (with Ralph Towner), Paquito D’Rivera, Lyle Mays, Michel Camilo, Cesar Camargo Mariano, Randy Brecker, Steve Khan, Mike Mainieri, Andy Narell, Eliane Elias, NDR Bigband, WDR Big Band, the hr-Bigband, and the Caribbean Jazz Project. He released his critically acclaimed debut album in 2019 entitled You Get What You Give, featuring Paquito D’Rivera, Alain Mallet, Oscar Stagnaro and many others. Walker is a Yamaha, Paiste, Vic Firth, Remo, Meinl, and Prologix artist.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2025 | 8:00 pm
Goethe-Institut Boston
170 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02116
