Assoc. Prof. BAHADIR ÇOKAMAY

 Born in 1981 in Balıkesir, Turkey, Bahadır Çokamay began his musical training at an early age with music teacher Şahin İzgü. In 1995, he was admitted to the Turkish Armed Forces School of Music, where he received his first formal education and graduated in 1999 as a horn performer. In 2000, he was accepted into the Department of Wind and Percussion Instruments, Horn Division, at Trakya University State Conservatory. During his studies, he performed as a horn player with the university’s youth and symphony orchestras, accompanying distinguished artists such as Ferhat Badalbeyli and Hülya Tarcan.

He completed his Master’s degree (2011) and Doctorate in Art/Music Proficiency (2016) in the Music Programme at Trakya University Graduate School of Social Sciences. Seeking to deepen his work in composition, he was admitted in 2016 to the Composition Proficiency in Art Programme at Istanbul University, studying in the class of composer K. Mete Sakpınar. He took part in various composition workshops including The Journey of Sound and Kampana, and received several awards both in Turkey and abroad. His works and arrangements have been performed by the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Hacettepe Symphony Orchestra, Anadolu University Symphony Orchestra, Dokuz Eylül University Symphony Orchestra, Mersin University State Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Bilkent Youth Symphony Orchestra, Balkan Symphony Orchestra, and the Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Symphony Orchestra.

In 2013, Çokamay began his conducting studies as a special student under Assoc. Prof. Burak Tüzün in the Orchestral Conducting Master’s Programme at Hacettepe University State Conservatory. In 2015, he conducted the Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra during a workshop held in memory of the world-renowned conductor Claudio Abbado under the mentorship of conductor Alpaslan Ertüngealp. He later attended Prof. Ertuğrul Sevsay’s Orchestration Seminar at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (2016), Prof. Gürer Aykal’s conducting masterclass at Bilkent University (2017), and Prof. Vladimir Ponkin’s masterclass (2018). In 2025, he was selected as one of the six active conductors to participate in the Choral Conducting Workshop organized by SANSEV, where he studied with İbrahim Yazıcı.

In 2019, he was admitted to the Orchestral Conducting Master’s Programme of the Composition and Conducting Department at Hacettepe University Graduate School of Fine Arts, studying under Prof. Rengim Gökmen. Throughout his education, he worked with Prof. Hatıra Ahmedli Cafer (Counterpoint and Form), Prof. Erol Erdinç (Score Analysis), Prof. Levent Kuterdem (Solfege Pedagogy), and Prof. Rengim Gökmen (Instrumentation and Conducting). In June 2023, he completed the programme by conducting Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 with the Hacettepe Symphony Orchestra and by defending his thesis titled An Examination of Nevit Kodallı’s Orchestral Suites Telli Turna and Güzelleme from the Perspective of Orchestral Conducting before a jury consisting of Prof. Rengim Gökmen, Prof. Burak Tüzün, and Assoc. Prof. Işın Metin.

Strengthening his conducting experience by founding and directing the Trakya Academy Chamber Orchestra (2015–2017), Çokamay has also appeared as a guest conductor with the Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra, Hacettepe Symphony Orchestra, Başkent Chamber Orchestra, and Anadolu University Symphony Orchestra. Since 2021, he has been leading the symphony orchestra he established at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Faculty of Music and Performing Arts, presenting significant works of the orchestral repertoire and hosting renowned conductors such as Rengim Gökmen, Burak Tüzün, Naci Özgüç, and Orhan Şalliel for orchestra seminars.

Bahadır Çokamay currently serves as an Associate Professor at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Faculty of Music and Performing Arts, where he continues his academic research and artistic activities, focusing on composition, chamber music, and orchestral conducting.