Masis Aram Gözbek

Masis Aram Gözbek born in 1987, Istanbul. His band won the first prize in 2004 at the 'Battle of the Bands' competition by Radio Boğaziçi. His arrangement was awarded the third prize at KASDAV music competition among high schools in 2005. Between 2005 and 2007 he sang with the Turkish National Radio Youth Choir. In 2007, he took over as the conductor of BUMC Jazz Choir. His composition 'Dante’s Last Day' was performed at the 3rd Young Composers Festival. He composed and arranged several choral pieces, among which 'Alive' was awarded the 'World Championship' in the World Choir Championships in Graz, Austria and 'Alive II' earned a gold medal in the 7th World Choir Games in Cincinnati, USA. He attended countless competitions, festivals and master classes in countries like USA, China, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Latvia, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Bulgaria and North Macedonia. He studied conducting with Denes Szabo, Tõnu Kaljuste, Volker Hempfling, Johannes Prinz, Georg Grün, Elisenda Carrasco i Ribot, Patrik Andersson, Franz Jochum and composition with Par Lindgren, Richard Ayres, David Lang. He conducted the final concert of HfM Saar Conductors’ Academy both in 2016 and 2017 under the direction of Prof. Georg Grün. He won several international prizes including two 'World Championship' awards and given numerous performances both in Turkey and abroad with Boğaziçi Jazz Choir. He led some workshops and performances with choirs abroad like the worldwide known Dekoor Close Harmony (Netherlands), La Choraline (Belgium) and the Swiss Youth Choir who are the owners of several prestigious awards in the international choral scene.
In 2008, he dropped out of his mathematics major at Boğaziçi University and started studying composition at Yıldız Technical University, Music and Performing Arts Department. The following year, he was accepted by Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory, Department of Composition and Orchestral Conducting and is still continuing his conducting studies.
In 2013, he won 'The Most Successful Young Person' award at the Turkey finals of  19. TOYP (Ten Outstanding Young Persons). In 2014, he earned the 'Young Conductor Special Award' in the 35th International May Choir Competition Varna. He was awarded 'the Music Entrepreneur of the Year' by the METU Young Entrepreneurs Society. He was invited to the many prestigious festivals and competitions such as European Music Festival for Young People Neerpelt (Belgium), European Festival of Youth Choirs Basel (Switzerland), International May Choir Competition Varna (Bulgaria), World Choir Festival (Hong Kong), International Choral Festival of Preveza (Greece) both as a jury member and a guest conductor. In 2019, he was selected as one of the 12 finalists in the World Choral Conducting Competition in Hong Kong. He was also one of the candidates of 2021 Fosco Corti International Competition for Choral Conductors in Italy.He initiated the Voice of Cultures Project and pioneered the establishment of choirs that will sing in 7 different languages in 7 different cities of Turkey. He launched the KOROHANE (Choir-House) platform in order to bring together everyone from all over Turkey who are devoted to choral music, and to share experiences with individuals and institutions who want to form a choir. He was the musical director at the Turkish productions of ‘The Suppliant Women’ by Aescylus and the musical ‘Annie’. He won the European Video Award 2021 with MAGMA & Boğaziçi Jazz Choir Family and Atatürk Youth Award 2022 with Boğaziçi Youth Choir. In 2022, he was invited as the conductor of the Chamber Choir of Europe to assist Sir Karl Jenkins during his concert and rehearsals with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento in Merano, Italy. In July, he was invited as the masterclass leader to the Choral Conducting Masterclass in Corfu (Greece), organized by Ionian University and the University of Macedonia. He was one of the jury members at the competition for the Anthem of the 100th Anniversary of Turkish Republic. Recently, he was invited to take part in the “La bohéme” production of Trondheim Opera, Norway as one of the professional singers in Trondheim Vokalensemble.  As the founder and artistic director of Boğaziçi Jazz Choir, Boğaziçi Youth Choir and MAGMA Choirs, he is also working very often with famous singers such as Sertab Erener, Nil Karaibrahimgil, Kenan Doğulu, Selami Şahin, Yasemin Mori, Ali Kocatepe and bands like Mor ve Ötesi. Besides, he is leading workshops, seminars and performances about choral music in several schools and associations both in different cities of Turkey and abroad. He has been a trustee of Yücel Cultural Foundation since 2018.