Onur Yıldırım (b. 1985) is a Turkish composer currently based in New York, where he pursues doctoral studies in composition at Columbia University. His music has been performed at festivals such as Impuls (Graz), June in Buffalo, the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP), and as part of Unerhörte Musik (Berlin) and Jeunesse (Vienna) series. Performers of his music include Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Interface, Callithumpian Consort and Hezarfen Ensemble.
Onur holds a master’s degree from Istanbul Technical University and a bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. His principal teachers include George Lewis, Adam Roberts, John Mallia, Pieter Snapper, Reuben de Lautour, and Malcolm Peyton. He has also participated in master classes and/or had private lessons with Pierluigi Billone, Chaya Czernowin, Aydın Esen, Beat Furrer, Georg Friedrich Haas, Kamran İnce, Tristan Murail, Fred Lerdahl, Rand Steiger, and Tolga Tüzün, among others.
In addition to his studies in music, Onur has participated in the Leiden University Summer School in Linguistics and attended classes in comparative linguistics—a discipline that has greatly influenced his music.
