Cemal Reşit Rey

Cemal Reşit Rey — Biography

Cemal Reşit Rey was born in Jerusalem on 25 October 1904, the son of Ahmet Reşit Rey, then the city's Ottoman governor. His talent for music emerged in childhood, and after the family settled in Paris and later Geneva he was discovered by the composer Gabriel Fauré, who directed him toward the pianist Marguerite Long; he went on to study composition with Raoul Laparra in Paris.

Returning to Istanbul after the founding of the Republic, he joined the conservatory as an instructor in piano and composition from 1932 and became one of the "Turkish Five," the country's first generation of classically trained composers. The ensemble he built grew into the İstanbul Şehir Orkestrası and later the İstanbul State Symphony Orchestra, which he conducted until 1968. His best-known works include operettas such as Lüküs Hayat, most bearing librettos penned by his brother Ekrem Reşit Rey, alongside two symphonies and the march "Onuncu Yıl Marşı."

Named a State Artist in 1981, Rey died in Istanbul in 1985 and was buried in the family plot at Edirnekapı; he is remembered today through the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall, one of Istanbul's leading concert venues.