About
Biography
Zeynep Öykü is one of the foremost harpists in Turkey. Starting harp in a non-conventional way, she traveled around the world attending lessons and master classes from the most renown harpists of our age, such as Isabelle Perrin, Isabelle Perrin, Sylvain Blassel in France, Marie Pierre Langlamet, Ernestine Stoop, Erika Wardenburg, Saskia Kingma and jazz harpist Rosetty de Ruiter in Holland, Susan Allen in USA who specialized in improvisation, in order to explore as many different techniques and approaches as possible.
Interested in a plethora of styles and periods, she played for Metal bands such as Wolves in The Throne Room in USA, Imperia in Finland and Senfonya in Turkey, and participated in the Turkish Classical Music and dance project “Taksim Taksim”.
Becoming immersed in the world of early music, she started a project called “The Baroque Harp” where she explored playing keyboard music from the period on the pedal harp. Her second such project “Bach & His Sons” focused on both the music and lives of J. S. Bach’s four composer sons. She currently plays both the modern harp and the baroque triple harp.
In 2020 she founded her own record label with her work and life partner Ali Öztürk and released her first solo album “1685” which focuses mainly on the works of Bach, Handel and Scarlatti. This album is available for sale on our website and can ship internationally.
Events
- 19 Dec2023Sarper Özsan Anma KonseriKadıköy All Saints Moda Kilisesi, IstanbulÜcretsiz
- 25 Oct2023John Dowland: Rönesans’ta Melankoli (İstanbul)Yeldeğirmeni Sanat Merkezi
- 21 Oct2023John Dowland, Rönesans’da Melankoli (Ayvalık)Ayvalık Sanat Fabrikası350 TL
- 20 Oct2023John Dowland: Rönesans’ta Melankoli (İzmir)Aziz Vukolos Kilisesi350 TL
- 7 Oct2023John Dowland, Rönesans’da Melankoli (Ankara)Musa Göçmen Senfoni Orkestrası Salonu, Ankara350 TL
- 19 Mar2023John Dowland, Rönesans’da Melankoli (Istanbul)Kadıköy All Saints Moda Kilisesi, Istanbul250 TL
- 7 Oct2022Renaissance and Baroque Masterpieces (İstanbul, Şişli)Şişli Nazım Hikmet Kültür Ve Sanat Merkezi150 TL
- 1 Oct2022Renaissance and Baroque Masterpieces (İstanbul, Kadıköy)All Saints Moda İngiliz Kilisesi150 TL
- 30 Sep2022Renaissance and Baroque Masterpieces (Ankara)Musa Göçmen Senfoni Orkestrası Gösteri Salonu150 TL
- 29 Sep2022Renaissance and Baroque Masterpieces (Eskişehir)Yunus Emre Kültür ve Sanat Merkezi150 TL
Gallery
Photos
Discography
New Albums
“1685” is the first solo album of Turkish harpist Zeynep Öykü, recorded in September 2019 and released in February 2020. It focuses mainly on the music of Johan Sebastian Bach, George Friedric Handel and Domenico Scarlatti, who were all born on the fateful year 1685.
It was recorded inside a historical stone tavern built between the years 1415-1418 called “Tashan” (literally stone tavern) in Golpazari, Turkey. The harp played on this recording is a 1917 Wurlitzer DDX rebuilt by renowned historical harp maker George Howard Bryan.
The album case is unique in that it is made of embroidered fabric; in order to present “1685” in a case that looks as if it might have existed in 1685.
Click for track list
Domenico Scarlatti (1685 – 1757)
1. Keyboard Sonata in D minor K 213
2. Keyboard Sonata in F minor K 466
George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759)
3. Passacaglia from Keyboard Suite in G minor, KWV 432
4. Theme and Variations for Harp in G
Giovanni Battista Pescetti (1704 – 1766)
5. Andantino Expressivo from Keyboard Sonata in C minor
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)
6. Presto from G minor Violin Sonata, BWV 1001 (Bach-Grandjany)
7. Sarabande from Violin Partita in B minor, BWV 1002 (Bach-Grandjany)
Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695)
8. Ground in D minor, ZD 222
9. Round O, ZT 684
William Croft (1678 – 1727)
10. Sarabande and Ground from Suite in C minor