Sueda Catakoglu was born on June 14 1997 in Turkey. The first person who
instilled in him the love of music was composition teacher and pedagogue Prof.
Afak Caferova. She was accepted to the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin with
a DAAD scholarship. Here she studied with internationally recognized piano
virtuoso Prof. Nelson Goerner. She has given concerts at distinguished music
festivals such as Izmir Buca Municipality Pink Pavilion, Northern Cyprus 12th
International Bellapais Spring Music Festival. In 2017, she gave chamber music
concerts with her groups at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. She has received
degrees and special awards in competitions such as the International Pera Piano
Competition, Izmir Saygun Piano Competition, 2nd Hacettepe National Piano
Competition. She participated in the masterclasses of Turkish State Artist İdil Biret
at Ayvalık International Music Academy (AIMA). She gave a concert on the same
stage with Idil Biret at Alibey Cultural Center on Cunda Island. She took jazz,
arrangement, improvization, jazz theory and harmony, composition and
songwriting lessons with jazz vibraphone player Oli Bott. Since 2018, she has
studied Balkan songs, French chansons with Paula Turcas, the soloist of the
ZMEI3 band, and continued to take vocal lessons. Her solo graduation recital at the
Pierre Boulez Saal, one of Europe's leading concert halls, attracted the attention of
music authorities in Berlin.
Since September 2021, she has been studying Jazz Composition, Contemporary
Writing and Production and Piano performance at Berklee College of Music as a
full tuition scholar. In the 2022-2023 academic year, she received a scholarship
from this institution within the scope of Eczacıbaşı Music Scholarships. In Spring
2022, she gave a solo piano recital at David Friend Hall as part of the KeysFest
piano festival organized by Berklee College of Music and was awarded the
Emanuel Zambelli Concert Pianist scholarship.
She was accepted as a member of Central Square Theater's Ambassador
Ensemble which was founded by MIT University, one of Boston's most respected
urban theaters. She also works as a studio assistant at Berklee College, where she
also works as a pianist and music director in Musical Theater ensembles. She
performed her song Multeci Kaldım with an international group of musicians at a
political activism and fundraising concert at the Berklee Performance Center.
Sueda's Sezen Aksu Tribute album "Sueda sings Sezen", which she produced
herself and recorded in the studio with Kara Snethlage, will be released in October
on Ahenk Music label. She is currently recording her 3-song EP, which she plans to
release after the Sezen Aksu album.