Elif Ece Cansever

Turkish violinist Elif Ece Cansever was born in 2000 and is currently a student of Professor Alexander Gilman at the Royal College of Music in London. Cansever holds a full scholarship for her studies by the Bowerman Charitable Trust Scholar supported by the Ian Evans Lombe Scholarship.

In 2017, she performed her debut with J. Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, accompanied by the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Rengim Gökmen. Following her success, she has been recognized among important musicians and conductors and received invitations to perform as a soloist and chamber musician at further concerts and festivals. As a soloist, she has performed with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Bursa Regional State Symphony Orchestra, Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra and many more. Her recent concerts feature performances on renowned stages such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, Kursaal Merano, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Presidential Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall in Ankara. During her studies, she has participated in many masterclasses and was invited to perform for world renowned musicians such as Maxim Vengerov, Mincho Minchev, Alexander Markov, Guy Braunstein, Alexander Vinnitski and Andrej Bielow.

At the age of 6, Elif was accepted to the Bilkent University of Music and Performing Arts, where she received violin lessons from Rasim Bagirov. Later, she continued her studies with Lutsia Ibragimova at the Royal College of Music in London. She won the second prize at the 3rd National Gülden Turalı Violin Competition in October 2008 in Mersin. She also appeared on the “Small Hands, Big Talents” concert program held in Istanbul and broadcast on the NTV channel. As an active chamber musician, she took part at the Bilkent Music Days as the first violinist of the Bilkent Quintet. Apart from her violin studies, she received lessons in composition by Tolga Yayalar and performed her own work at the Young Composers Young Interpreters Concert in Bilkent University. Since the start of her musical education, she also plays the piano and studied with Kathron Sturrock at the Royal College of Music.
Elif is a current member and soloist of the world-renowned youth string ensemble “LGT Young Soloists”. As part of this ensemble, she had extraordinary opportunities to perform in concert halls worldwide.
Elif Ece Cansever plays on a fine violin by Joseph Rocca 1848 and gratefully acknowledges its loan from the Royal College of Music in London.