Biography

Serâ Tokay, born at Istanbul to a family of architects, pursued her musical education in France thanks to a scholarship from the French government for advanced studies in piano. In the course of a spiritual retreat in the depths of the French countryside and removed from the agitation of the world she came to a definitive conclusion regarding her career : She would become a philosopher and an orchestral conductor.

A competitive examination resulted in her being admitted to the Conservatoire Supérieur de Lausanne in the conducting class of H. Klopfstein where she was able to conduct the University Symphony Orchestras of Lausanne and Geneva. She obtained her Diplôme d'Etudes Musicales de IIIème Cycle (avec mention) for orchestral conducting in the class of Professor Alain Voirpy of the Conservatoire National de Limoges.

She was able to improve her technique by taking advantage of courses offered by the celebrated Hungarian master Janós Fürst. She supplemented this formation by studying under the young conductor Vsevolod Polonsky, through whom she was introduced to the severe tradition of the Russian school.

Her studies in philosophy were carried out alongside her musical education and led to doctoral research in phenomenology at the Université de la Sorbonne-Paris IV. She has published philosophical articles in French and Turkish.

Her work on her thesis led her to think about the psychological foundations of the relation between the conductor and her orchestra. In association with Luciano Fadiga, Professor of neuro-physiology at the University of Ferrara, she thought up a programme of research on the cinematic and physiological correlates of empathy. She is still developing this programme of research with the instrumentalists of her orchestra as well as with those of the Citta di Ferrara

Serâ Tokay is musical director and principal conductor of the Şişli Symphony Orchestra at Istanbul. This orchestra of some 60 young musicians who obtained their degrees at the State conservatory of Istanbul was established by the most popular political personality in Istanbul, Mr Sarıgül, mayor of Şişli, whose intention it was to make available to the people the universal values of culture.

Serâ Tokay was invited by the Ministry of Culture of Afghanistan to found the first School of Classical Music at the University of Kabul, a historic event which will be celebrated by a series of concerts with the Şişli Symphony Orchestra under the auspices of NATO.