Biography
Winner of the 2026 Siemens Conductors Scholarship, Kerem Tunçer serves as assistant to Chief Conductor Kirill Petrenko at the Berliner Philharmoniker from the 2026/27 season. In the same year, he received the Aydın Gün Award for Outstanding Young Artist, presented by the Istanbul Music Festival and Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), and was selected for the German Music Council’s prestigious Forum Dirigieren.
Tunçer has conducted orchestras including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt (Oder), Nürnberger Symphoniker, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Theater Magdeburg and numerous Turkish symphony orchestras. Since 2024, he has collaborated regularly with Turkey’s leading contemporary music ensemble, Hezarfen Ensemble, performing concerts across Turkey and Europe.
Before focusing on conducting, Tunçer established himself as a violinist and composer. In 2015, he was selected by Daniel Barenboim as one of the first students of the newly founded Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin, where he graduated with highest honours before continuing his studies in composition.
As a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and the Boulez Ensemble, he performed under Daniel Barenboim in many of the world’s leading concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris, Royal Albert Hall, La Scala, Elbphilharmonie, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, BOZAR Brussels, Pierre Boulez Saal, Smetana Hall, and the Berlin Waldbühne. He has also appeared at the BBC Proms, the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Rheingau Musik Festival, Musikfest Bremen, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, sharing the stage with artists such as Lang Lang, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Martha Argerich, Yo-Yo Ma, Lisa Batiashvili, Antonio Pappano, François-Xavier Roth, Matthias Pintscher, Lahav Shani, Clara-Jumi Kang, and Zubin Mehta.
Tunçer began his conducting studies with Prof. Eiji Oue and has assisted Michael Sanderling, Howard Griffiths, Eiji Oue, Cem Mansur, and İbrahim Yazıcı. He has also participated in masterclasses with Jorma Panula, Johannes Schlaefli, Steven Sloane, Michael Schønwandt, and Tomas Hanus.
Kerem Tunçer is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin) with Prof. Harry Curtis and is supported by ÇEV Sanat and the German Music Council’s Forum Dirigieren.