Biography
Can Saraç was born in Turkey in 2007 and received his first piano lessons at the age of five. In 2012, he won Istanbul University State Conservatory exams, and started his music theory lessons with Volkan Akkoç. He was a piano student of Dr. Fulya Tezer between 2013 and 2022. He is currently in the class of Dr. Melina Kuyumcu at Istanbul University State Conservatory. In June 2021, he was accepted to the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Munich Pre-College program for the highly gifted students, and there he continues his studies with Prof. Michael Schäfer. He has completed his Royal School of Music ABRSM exams with distinction.
read more
Can has attended masterclasses by renowned and prominent pianists including Huseyin Sermet, Jean-Marc Luisada, Gulsin Onay, Pavel Gililov, Ludmil Angelov, Pablo Galdo, Markus Becker, Tomislav Baynov and Gokhan Aybulus, among many others. He is a scholarship holder of the Liechtenstein International Music Academy and regularly takes part in the intensive weeks and activities that take place there.
Can has already won several awards for solo and duo performances at national and international competitions in Germany, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Russia, USA and Belgium. The most recent success is the 1st prize, the “Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Prize” at the Eppan Piano Academy in Italy from November 2023. Other prizes include the 1st prize at the “Ohrid Pearls International Piano Competition 2018” (Macedonia), both solo and duo piano performance and received an invitation to perform the Gala Concert at the closing ceremony. In 2019, Can won the 1stprize at the “Internatinal Rhapsody Piano Competition” in Adana (Turkey) and the 1st prize as well as the “Leyla Pamir Grand Prize” at the “4th International Young Talents Music Award” (Turkey). In 2020, he won the 1st prize and the “St.Petersburg Prize” at the “St. Petersburg International Piano Competition” and got invited to perform at the Grand Final. Can also won 1st prizes at the “Hopes, Talents, Masters XXII International Youth Music Competition” (Bulgaria), the “Golden Classical Music Awards” (USA) both solo and duo piano performance, the “Franz Liszt Center Piano Competition 2021” (Spain), the “III. Wiener Klassiker Danubia Talents International Music Competition”, the “Heirs of Orpheus VI. International Music Competition” (Bulgaria) both duo and solo piano performance, the “International Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition” and got invited to perform at the Studio Recital Hall at Center for Fine Arts of Brussels, Belgium. He also received the 3rd prize at the “Young Euregio Piano Award International Piano Competition” (Germany).
Can took part at several international festivals, including the 17th and 18th International Gumusluk Festival Academy for Young Musicians in Bodrum, Turkey and the II. International Piano Festival in Bursa.
He performed as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles in several venues such as the Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall Istanbul, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra Hall Ankara, the Eskisehir State Conservatoy, the Mozarthaus Ankara, the Ataturk Congress Center Bursa and the Kadikoy Municipality Yeldegirmeni Arts Center Istanbul. In 2019, after being pronounced as a 1st prize winner at an international competition, he received the invitation to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 2022, at the National Sovereignty and Children’s Day for Turkey, Can has performed Saint Saens’ Le Carnaval des Animaux, accompanied by Cemal Resit Rey Symphony Orchestra as well as he performed at Liederhalle Stuttgart, Germany in a charity organization of the Association for Supporting Contemporary Life (ÇYDD), for the benefit of the education of young girls. As the youngest pianist invited to Pianissimo Live concerts, Can performed solo recitals at The Hermitage State Museum, St. Petersburg and at the GES-2 House of Culture, Moscow, in August 2022. Can was entitled to take part in the Shining Stars 2022-2023 season concert series organized by Issanat which supports extraordinary talented young musicians in Turkey. In 2023, he has been invited as a Festival Artist to Cliburn Junior, one of the most prestigious piano events in the world that is held every four years in Texas, USA.
He’s a tutoring member of Care-to-Share, a charity initiative to support underprivileged children in their music education.