Muammer Sun

Born in 1932 Ankara, Muammer Sun started his music education in 1946 at the Military Music School and then entered the Ankara State Conservatoire’s Composition Department to study with Ahmed Adnan Saygun. He furthered his education studying piano with Mithat Fenmen, choir and orchestra conducting with Hasan Ferit Alnar, Turkish folk music with Muzaffer Sarısözen, classical Turkish music with Ruşen Ferit Kam and particularly modal systems and harmony of Turkish music with Kemal İlerici. Upon his graduation with distinction in 1960 from Saygun’s class in the Composition Department, he was appointed tutor in the same institution. His teaching experience went on with his appointments to the İzmir State Conservatoire in 1975, Mimar Sinan University State Conservatoire in 1980 and Hacettepe University State Conservatoire in 1987. He became an assistant professor in 1988 and full professor in 1993 and retired from the Hacettepe University State Conservatoire in 1999. During his tenure in the state conservatoires, he taught choir,solfége, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, instrumentation, orchestration, modal music and composition and won many awards in several competitions for the songs he composed. Muammer Sun was inspired by the folk and traditional sources of Turkish music and wrote with Kemal İlerici’s harmony system, which resulted in music for ballet, orchestral works, chamber music,piano pieces, stage music like Elektra (1958) and Sultan Gelin (1964), songs with piano or orchestra accompaniment, musical plays for children, and works like Five Pieces for choir and soprano. He has extensively worked on the educational aspect of Turkish music and wrote books for this purpose. Preferring choral works and music for the kids and young people,Sun was awarded mostly for his vocal works and was inspired by classical Turkish music and Turkish folk music. He founded the Sun Publishing House in 2004 which publishes books on music education and musicology.

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