Nihal Ulutan was born in 1999 in Ankara. She started her musical journey with piano at the age of 5 in the Ankara State Opera and Ballet Leyla Gencer Children's Choir. In 2009, she won the admission auditions held by Bilkent University and got accepted to the piano major with a scholarship. There, she started her studies with Gamze Kirtil. At an early age, Ulutan gave solo concerts at TSE, the Japanese Embassy, the Contemporary Arts Centre and various private organisations, and took the stage in live broadcasts on national and local TV channels such as Kanal B and Ses TV.
In 2010, she passed the exams of Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory and became Sanem Berkalp’s student. While she was continuing her education as a high honour student, Ulutan got admitted to the German Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, where more than a hundred pianists applied in 2018. She became the first Turkish pianist accepted to the school after Fazıl Say.
Between 2011-2019, Ulutan participated in İdil Biret’s masterclasses at Ayvalık International Music Academy. She had the opportunity to work with names such as Ayşegül Sarıca, Gülsin Onay, Misha Dacic, Marek Drewnowski, Roland Batik, Claudius Tanski, Stefan Mehlig, Pamela Mia Paul. She performed with Joseph Paratore at the Salzburg Mozarteum Academy. During her education, she studied orchestral conducting with Christian von Gehren, composition with Hans Peter Reutter, singing with Katharina Woesner, chamber music with Hans Eijscakers, and jazz piano with Joshua Bredemeier.
Ulutan won the third prize in the National Piano Competition organised by Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory in 2015. In the same year, she represented Turkey with the Muzaffer Arkan Girls' Choir at the music festival held in Italy. In 2016, she won the first prize in the 5th International Baku Music Academy Competition and got positive reviews from the juries. She performed as the only pianist at the gala concert which was broadcasted on Azerbaijan State Television at the end of the competition. In 2017, she won the third prize in the 5th International Piano Competition held in Sweden. Between 2018-2020, Ulutan gave recitals and solo concerts in cities such as Cologne, Essen, and Düselldorf by the special invitation of the mayor of Neuss, Germany.
Her interviews were published in different media such as Andante music magazine; Sabah, Başkent and the German Rheinische Post newspapers. She participated in broadcasts on TRT 3, Bilkent Radio and Başkent TV and received positive reviews from various music writers.
In 2020, she attended the Beethoven 250th Anniversary Memorial Festival held in the United States. In 2021, she was invited to Mozart Piano Days for the second time. She made the first and only recording of a newly discovered work by Robert Schumann. She recorded the piano works of Ahmet Adnan Saygun at the studio of the Robert Schumann Academy in Düsseldorf. In 2022, she performed as a soloist with the Smyrna Youth Orchestra in İzmir and with the Agora Symphony Orchestra in Ankara. In 2023, Ulutan won the second prize in the Clara Schumann Chamber Music Competition with the Azalea Trio, of which she is the founder and pianist.
Ulutan continues her studies at the Robert Schumann School of Music with Paolo Giacometti.
