BIOGRAPHY
Gözde Çakır recently finished her doctoral degree in Flute Performance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, where she studied with Mary Posses. Also while at UMKC, she was a member of the Plaza Winds Graduate Fellowship Woodwind Quintet. Since 2018, she has performed as the second flute at the Topeka Symphony Orchestra. She is also currently a teaching artist at the Harmony Project Kansas City.
Before moving to Kansas City, she completed high school and her first year of undergraduate studies in Flute Performance at Cukurova University State Conservatory with Murat Esen. She then transferred to Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory, where she studied with Vieri Bottazzini. During her studies in Turkey, she performed as a substitute flutist with the Cukurova State Symphony Orchestra in Adana. She then moved to the United States in 2015 to earn a Master of Music degree in Flute Performance as a teaching assistant at Central Michigan University, where she studied with Joanna Cowan White.
Ms. Çakır won second prize in the Izmir International Flute Competition in 2012, received the Yamaha Scholarship Award in 2012, won the 2012 concerto competition at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory, and was awarded Honorable Mention at the Patricia Nixon Competition in 2015. She was one of four flutists selected via recorded audition to perform in a masterclass with Emmanuel Pahud in Turkey in 2014.
As an active soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Cakir has appeared in concerts throughout Turkey, the United States, France, and Kosovo, including: two weeks of performances at Opus Erasmus III Mélodie et poésie dans la musique contemporaine (Melody and Poetry in contemporary music) where she was a part of both the orchestral and chamber music programs (Paris, 2013), International Pera Music Festival (Istanbul, 2014 and 2015), and the International Kosovo Music Festival: Zgijimi me Art (Wake up with Art), (Kosovo, 2014).
She has also performed in masterclasses by James Galway, Raffaele Trevisani, Andrea Oliva, Davide Formisano, Jim Walker, Bulent Evcil, Matts Möller, Robert Win, Donna Shin, Jennifer Gunn, Jeffrey Khaner, Leone Buyse, and Christian Plouvier.
Besides her ambition to teach and perform in orchestral and solo settings, Ms. Çakır has also been a successful chamber musician, performing at competitions and conferences across the U.S. In March 8th, 2020, Plaza Winds earned 2nd prize at the Coltman Chamber Music Competition in Austin, Texas. She is also a member of Centerline Duo, a flute-saxophone duo. This duo was formed in order to expand and record the chamber music repertoire for this instrumental combination. Centerline Duo has performed at both the North American Saxophone Alliance Conference and the National Flute Association International Conference.
B.M. - Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Istanbul State Conservatory
M.M. - Central Michigan University
D.M.A. - University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory