Suna Kan

Who is Suna Kan?

Suna Kan is a Turkish violinist.

She started playing the violin at the age of five and gave her first public concerts when she was only nine years old, performing Mozart's A major and Viotti's A minor violin concertos with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra. She continued her studies in Ankara under Walter Gerhard, Izzet Albayrak and Lico Amar. In 1949 she was sent to France on scholarship, under a special law passed by the Turkish Grand National Assembly. She studied with Gabriel Bouillon at the Paris Conservatory and graduated in 1952, winning the first prize.

Upon returning homeland, starting from 1960's, she gave concerts in Anatolia first with the Turkish pianist Ferhunde Erkin and then with Gülay Uğurata regularly. Her partnership with Uğurata lasted 29 years. After Uğurata's death, she formed a duo with the pianist Cana Gürmen.

Suna Kan's extensive concert tours have so far covered most parts of the world, including England, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Russia, China, Japan, South American countries, Canada and the United States. She has performed with many international orchestras such as the London Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Residentie Orchestra, Moscow Symphony, French National Radio Symphony under great conductors like István Kertész, Arthur Fiedler, Walter Susskind, Hans Rosbaud, Zubin Mehta, Gotthold Lessing, Louis Frémaux and Michel Plasson. She also collaborated with celebrated artists like Yehudi Menuhin, Igor Bezrodny, Pierre Fournier, André Navarra, and Frederick Riddle in performing double concertos.