Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? - Evren Ozel

Where Are They Now? spotlights Minnesota Varsity Featured and Showcase Artists and Composers from 2011 to 2017.

Evren Ozel from Minneapolis, Minn. was a Minnesota Varsity 2014 Showcase Artist. He recently got in touch with Classical MPR's Christine Sweet to share his latest news.

Evren Ozel, piano, 2014 Showcase Artist

Age: 18

Hometown: Minneapolis, Minn.

Attends: New England Conservatory, Boston, Mass.

Since being in Minnesota Varsity, I have had many exciting experiences in the musical world. In the summer of 2016, as a finalist in the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition at Oberlin Conservatory, I was afforded the opportunity to play Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall!

After finishing high school at Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Mass., studying piano with Wha Kyung Byun, I have matriculated to New England Conservatory in Boston for college, continuing my studies with Ms. Byun. Her excellent insight has guided me well so far, and she continues to inspire me to no end! At the moment I am just learning lots of new repertoire and enjoying every minute of it! I hope to be able to make a career playing solo recitals, chamber recitals and concertos with orchestra.

My greatest memory from Minnesota Varsity was the invaluable experience of recording in a studio. Most of the performance experience I get is through live concerts, which has a completely different feel to it than being in a soundproof studio, alone with the microphones. There is a sense of permanence that one feels when recording something, and performing under these different, but definitely not uncommon, circumstances was a very helpful experience to have, as I know it has helped me in all of the recordings I have made since then for auditions.