Piano Lessons With Experienced Professional

I love teaching as much as I enjoy performing and composing ! All levels of beginners, amateurs and professionals are welcome. I'm trying to provide a highly interactive approach considering the individual's needs and goals instead of a rigid methodic practice. Although my speciality and field is Jazz, I try to cover almost every genre as much as I can from Classical to Pop and other contemporary styles.

Please do not hesitate to check out my YouTube channel :

https://m.youtube.com/results?q=bedikyan&sm=1

Here's a detailed bio of myself including a large number of press credentials about my work :

Born in Istanbul, Burak Bedikyan is one of the foremost players and composers of his native country as a leader and a highly sought after sideman for a variety of American and European Jazz artists thanks to his originality and stylistic versatility. Releasing three critically acclaimed albums and touring worldwide with his bands made his work recognized internationally.

First interested in Jazz during high school (Saint Benoit French High School) with the commitment and passion to pursue a career as a professional musician. Formal music education began in 1996 with distinguished Turkish pianist & composer Aydin Esen where studies included modern harmony and jazz improvisation. Bedikyan attended the “Marmara University Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences” in the same year. While studying improvisational music, the pianist began explanding his harmonic base playing pop and rock gigs accompanying some of the leading popular figures of Turkey.

In 2002 he received a full merit-based scholarship of music performance from the “Istanbul Bilgi University” and heads began turning in his direction from the Turkish jazz scene when he started playing primarily with his professors and later on with international visiting artists such as Benny Golson, Vincent Herring, Stefano DiBattista, Jim Rotondi, Dusko Goykovich, Kevin Mahogany, Jenny Evans, Ricky Ford, Andy Middleton, Harvie S, Eric Revis, Jean-Loup Lognon, Melba Joyce, Larry Price, Mark Alban Lotz to name but a few.

The artist recorded his debut album "Circle of Life" in 2012 in NYC with internationally acclaimed artists; Chris Potter, Peter Washington and Bill Stewart. Published worldwide in 2013 by the prestigious record label SteepleChase Records, "Circle of Life" received positive feedback on the international arena from critics, journalists, as well as fans.

January 2015 gave birth to the pianist’s second album as a leader. “Leap of Faith” featuring another all American line up including jazz greats Chris Cheek, Ron McClure and Billy Drummond. As in his first album, Bedikyan presented a set of original compositions rooted with the American jazz tradition but embracing his European influences as well as his Turkish/Armenian heritage.

Besides touring and performing worldwide with both his American and European bands, Bedikyan is continuously writing new music. His recent works are published on October 2016 in his third SteepleChase CD “Awakening“ with the participation of the top-notch American jazzmen: Loren Stillman, Ugonna Okegwo and Donald Edwards.

Recently moved to NYC, Bedikyan is now a part of the city’s jazz scene while sharing his knowledge and experience in various genres and styles with music students, amateurs and professionals of all levels.

The musical resume of contemporaries that Bedikyan has shared a stage with over the last twenty years includes :

Benny Golson, Chris Potter, Chris Cheek, Vincent Herring, John Ellis, Stefano Di Battista, Wynton Marsalis (houseband at the 14th Istanbul International Jazz Festival 2007/Nardis Jazz Club), Jim Rotondi, Sean Jones, Dusko Goykovich, Brian Lynch, Kevin Mahogany, Jenny Evans, Ricky Ford, Loren Stillman, Andy Middleton, Harvie S, Aydin Esen, Maffy Falay, Kestutis Vaiginis, Donovan Mixon, Ron McClure, Peter Washington, Eric Revis, Johannes Strasser, Bill Stewart, Billy Drummond, Gerald Cleaver. Ted Poor, Donald Edwards, Joris Dudli, Jean-Loup Lognon, Alexandre Tassel, Melba Joyce, Deborah Davis, Brigitte Beraha, Dennis Jeter, Larry Price, Leah Kline, Mark Alban Lotz etc.

Critical acclaim includes :

" The Turkish Pianist's impressive debut album is steeped in modernist references.

... the trio tracks flow with contemporary lyricism."

Financial Times / Mike Hobart

" Circle of Life is an interesting overture for the Turkish newcomer, but it sounds like there's much more in reserve."

The Guardian / John Fordham

“Pianist and composer Bedikyan, a native of Turkey, has established himself among an elite circle of New York jazz artists. His colleagues on Awakening are alto saxophonist Loren Stillman, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Donald Edwards. Bedikyan’s playing and some of his compositions reflect his roots in bebop, his classical training and his Middle Eastern origins. If “Memory Of A Fading Dream” was intended to evoke his heritage, it succeeds in creating an exotic atmosphere that Stillman and Bedikyan expand on in their solos, energized by Edwards’ strategically and delicately placed cymbal splashes. In his third Steeplechase album, Bedikyan has grown impressively”

Rifftides Arts Journal (December 2016) / Doug Ramsey

“Steeplechase has a long standing reputation for bringing sound boilerplate contemporary jazz to our attention whilst its `Lookout` imprint aims to introduce us to nascent talent worthy of note. I would say that with this release Burak Bedikyan needs to be elevated to the major league. We need no longer be on the lookout, he has well and truly arrived”

Jazz Views (2017) / Euan Dixon

“While the atmospheric originals challenge the musicians, the main reasons to acquire Awakening are for the colorfully individual solos of Bedikyan and Stilmman who effortlessly glide over the often-complex chord changes and the hard-swinging playing of Okegwo and Edwards”

LA Jazz Scene Magazine (March 2017) / Scott Yanow

"Pianist Burak Bedikyan's style bops, chops and drops with a melodic flair all his own"

Hot House Jazz Magazine / Eric Wendell

“With Awakening Bedikyan, as a composer and a musician, has achieved his personal best to date. The motifs he utilized in previous recordings, his intelligent inventiveness and charming virtuosity have all coalesced into a superb and mature work. If he stays the course Bedikyan is certainly assured a bright future and a promising career”

All About Jazz (January 2017) / Hrayr Attarian

“A rock-solid set from pianist Burak Bedikyan – a player who seems to grow tremendously in the space between each new album! This set features all original material by Burak – songs that can be dark one minute, quietly sensitive the next – with a beauty that's not just captured by Bedikyan's work on piano, but also by the sinewy alto sax of Loren Stillman – who's deft enough to move in all the right ways along the melodies, then open up for his own interpretations on the solos”

Dusty Groove (2017)

“Whether Bedikyan manages to break out with a fully distinctive sound in the future is open to debate, but this effort leaves no doubt that he's got the chops, taste and range to do so-here's hoping he lets more of his imagination run wild"

DOWNBEAT - Peter Margasak

" Following up on his quartet album Circle Of Life (which featured Chris Potter on tenor), Leap of Faith is a strong step forward. The four musicians play together so tightly that they sound like a regularly working group. Cheek has many passionate solos, McClure and Drummond stimulate the lead voices while having their spots, and Burak Bedikyan (while hinting in spots at McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans) shows a great deal of originality in both his playing and his writing.

Leap Of Faith, an excellent example of modern jazz of today, is highly recommended"

LA Jazz Magazine / Scott Yanow

" Burak Bedikyan is one of the finest artists on the horizon. Leap of Faith is a positive reaffirmation that an artist can manipulate melody and take that harmonic road less traveled while moving past the technical pretentiousness that have so many improvisational musicians stuck in an overly pretentious rut. Back after the critically acclaimed Circle of Life. The band works with a lyrical sense of purpose, the synergy of lyrical thought is relaxed yet ever changing. The organic heartbeat of Leap of Faith alone is enough to have this release already hovering as a "Best of 2015" effort"

Criticaljazz.com / Brent Black

" With a powerful technique flowing from the McCoy Tyner sound decorated with gestures towards Eastern modality while also drawing on the tradition of the Romantic composers the arranging and quartet’s spatial awareness always lets the music breathe here.

Bedikyan isn’t afraid to enter the more experimental avant sphere which he does notably on ‘Hydrogen Atom’ so there’s plenty of imaginative flair at play here to retain prolonged interest, Leap of Faith casting a spell that’s hard to break even with much repeated play"

Marlbank / Stephen Graham

I have a gift to share my knowledge and experience with people who need to walk through the same path I'm on. Whether you are an amateur or professional I'd be glad to help you find your way. Teaching is a two way process for me and I experienced many times during all these years that both parts learn and grow with a dedicated heart.