About Emre Aracı
Emre Aracı (born 22 December 1968) is a Turkish music historian, conductor, and composer. == Early life and education. == Aracı was born in Ankara, Turkey and moved to the United Kingdom in 1987. He studied music at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1994 with a Bachelor of Music with honours followed by a PhD in 1999. The subject of his thesis was the life and works of Ahmet Adnan Saygun. During his years in Edinburgh, Aracı founded the Edinburgh University String Orchestra. In 2000, the orchestra established the Emre Aracı Composition Prize, which is annually awarded to student composers. With funding from the Türk Ekonomi Bankası, between 1999 and 2002 Aracı was a research associate at the Skilliter Centre for Ottoman Studies, University of Cambridge, studying European music in the Ottoman Empire. In 1999, he founded a string orchestra called the London Academy of Ottoman Court Music which performed his orchestrations of compositions by Italian musicians resident at the Turkish court in the 19th century, as well as original works by Ottoman sultans in the popular dance forms of the period. The ensemble which was in existence between 1999 and 2003 and performed in London at venues including St James's Church, Piccadilly and St John's Smith Square.
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