MELIS AZRA
Istanbul born pianist Melis Ömeroglu began learning the piano at the age of nine after moving to England, and only a few years later gained a place at the Royal College of Music Junior Department. Shortly after in 2006, she was awarded a full Government Scholarship to the Purcell School of Music.
In 2008 she began her studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, learning piano with Deniz Arman Gelenbe on a full combined scholarship and sponsorship. She graduated with a First Class Honours Degree and won the Silver Medal Keyboard Award, awarded to the fourth year BMus student making most outstanding contribution to the work of the Keyboard Department, as well as the Nancy Thomas Prize for the most high-achieving undergraduate piano student. She then went on to complete a Masters Course at the Royal College of Music, where she studied with Ashley Wass and was a Scholar supported by the Kenneth and Violet Scott Award.
Recital at the Royal College of Music
She has had numerous successes in festivals and competitions, including winning the Il Circolo Solo Piano Competition, the John Longmire Piano Competition, The Association of English Singers & Speakers’ Courtney Kenny Award Piano Prize, The Harrods’ Young Pianist of the Year, RCM's Ruby White Prize, as well as Winner of the EPTA Competition. She also received Trinity Laban's 'Anthony Lindsay Prize’ in recognition of outstanding performance or specific achievements and the 'Founders Prize for Accompanist' in recognition of having shown promise as a collaborative performer. In 2013 she won the Cavatina Chamber Music Prize with her piano trio, and most recently, she was awarded the Appelbe Piano Prize at the North London Festival of Music, Drama and Dance.
Melis has performed as a soloist in many prestigious venues, some including The Wigmore Hall, St. Martin in the Fields, Royal Festival Hall, the Purcell Room, Steinway Hall and St. Mary’s Perivale. She has also performed concertos in St. John’s Smith Square, Blackheath Halls and the Old Royal Naval College Chapel.
Having taken part in many master classes with renowned pianists such as Stephen Hough, Angela Hewitt, Dimitri Alexeev and Melvyn Tan to name but a few, she has discovered a love of teaching and enjoys working part time as a piano teacher as well as her performance career.
"... She is already a rising star of the London concert circuit, and it is easy to see why." - NHR
Recital for the President of Turkey at the Turkish Embassy
Aside from the piano, Melis also holds a Grade 8 distinction on the violin and voice. She has been a part of many orchestras, and lead the viola section in the Purcell School Symphony Orchestra where she was conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. As a keen chamber musician, Melis takes part in several chamber music groups, including a string quartet (with whom she performed in the Wigmore Hall and City Hall in the presence of Mayor of London, Boris Johnson) a piano duet (with whom she performed to the President of Turkey, Abdullah Gül), and a piano trio (The Almeida Trio, with whom she won the Cavatina Chamber Music Prize along with the Audience Prize and was selected to perform at the Wigmore Hall).