David Ezra Okonşar

David Ezra Okonşar (Turkish pronunciation: [oˈkonʃaɾ]; born 20 October 1961) is a Turkish–Belgian pianist, composer, conductor, writer, and educator.

He began to study piano at the Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory with Nimet Karatekin [tr] and Necil Kazım Akses.

Vanden Eynden, who was to entirely re-shape the keyboard technique of Okonşar, is a dedicated follower of the style of Eduardo del Pueyo [fr].

The keyboard technique of del Pueyo and Vanden Eynden is based on the work of Marie Jaëll, a pupil of Franz Liszt.

Back at the Ankara Conservatory, Okonşar was enrolled in the class of Gülay Uğurata [tr] for piano and of Nevit Kodallı for musical composition.

His other prizes are: The "Académie des Arts Contemporains" of Enghien, Belgium honored Okonşar in 1991 for his acoustic and electronic compositions the Gold and Bronze medals respectively.

[8] Some of the conductors he played with include Joseph Silverstein, Charles Dutoit, Sylvain Cambreling, Ingo Metzmacher, and Christof Escher.

In recital, Okonşar has appeared at London's Royal Opera House, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, in New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Kyoto, Bruxelles, Anvers, Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Rotterdam, Rome, Athens, Calgary, Salt Lake City, and Ljubljana.

Okonşar has performed recitals featuring the complete piano works of Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern.

Despite rejecting "musical specialization",[clarification needed] his repertoire is heavily modern, including Igor Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrouchka, the Sequenza IV for piano by Luciano Berio, and the Klavierstücke by Karlheinz Stockhausen.

During the eighties, atonal (free) Jazz, specially by Cecil Taylor and the intricate voicings of Bill Evans had strong impact on his total serialism.