Emre Yilmaz

Show Description

He began taking private guitar lessons at the age of 10. As a 7th grader, his school band won the second place at a national song competition with his high school band, where he was the guitarist and lead singer. It was there that Emre Yilmaz met Sezen Aksu andSertab Erener. He toured with Erener the following summer as her back-up vocalist. He decided to follow his passion for music and transferred to the high school division of theIstanbul State Conservatory.

After studying with Erdem Sokmen at the conservatory for a year, he moved to the United States to continue his classical guitar studies with John Wunsch at theInterlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. Two years later, he was accepted to the classical guitar program at the Eastman School of Music where he received his Bachelor's degree. There he studied with Nicholas Goluses, a former student of the legendary guitarist Andres Segovia. Throughout his guitar studies, he had the opportunity to play in master classes for David Russell, Assad Brothers, Roland Dyens,Fabio Zanon, Scott Tennant and Adam Holzman.

In 2006 he met the independent filmmaker Rick Widmer and composed the original music for his documentary film "American Fair.

Since 2006, he has taught at the Interlochen Guitar Institute, a summer seminar, and shared the stage with faculty members such as John Wunsch, Jason Vieaux, Martha Masters, Gene Bertoncini, and Howard Alden.

Since 2003, Emre has worked on numerous projects with songwriter/ producer Ayhan Sahin, including the new single "Only Yesterday."

Emre now lives in New York City, where he is performing gigs across the city, while steadily working on completing his debut album for Turkish and European markets.