Musical Journey

About
Eylem Atalay

Eylem Atalay is a distinguished Turkish musician with a diverse background in music theory, composition, and orchestral conducting. She graduated with top honors from Ankara University of Music and Fine Arts, where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Music Theory. Her undergraduate education offered a comprehensive curriculum that included harmony, counterpoint, musical forms, tonal and post-tonal analysis, aural skills, and score reading. In addition to her theoretical training, she explored interdisciplinary perspectives through courses in the philosophy of music and semiotics, which deepened her understanding of the structural and conceptual frameworks of music.

Simultaneously, Atalay completed her Master’s degree in Music Sciences at the same institution. Her thesis integrated her dual interests in music and cultural management. Prior to her studies in music, she graduated from Bilkent University with a degree in Business Administration, supported by a merit-based scholarship.

In the spring semester of the 2022–2023 academic year, she was selected for the Erasmus+ Internship Program at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica Cesare Pollini in Italy, where she specialized in Music Theory, Composition, and Conducting. During her time there, she actively participated in classes, rehearsals, and performances, and had the opportunity to conduct the Pollini Orchestra in excerpts from Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera. She also studied with prominent Italian composers and conductors, including Giovanni Bonato, Emanuelle Pasqualin, Alessandro Kirschner, and Rocco Cianciotta.

Currently, Eylem Atalay works as a research assistant in the Composition and Orchestral Conducting Department at Maltepe University Conservatory in Istanbul, while pursuing her doctoral studies at the State Conservatory of Ege University. She has studied conducting and composition with respected Turkish musicians such as Burak Tüzün, İlker Deniz Başuğur, Orhan Şallıel, Erberk Eryılmaz, Önder Özkoç, Hakkı Alper Maral, and Baran Doğaç Ünal.

She has also contributed to artistic productions as a conductor and composer. As an assistant conductor at Maltepe University Conservatory, she conducted the conservatory orchestra in the 19 May 2025 concert, presenting the first movement of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 and the second movement of Haydn’s Symphony No. 85. In the same year, one of her original compositions was performed at “Sesin Yolculuğu 16,” a contemporary music festival held in Istanbul.