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SEFIKA KUTLUER
State Flute Soloist
Unicef Goodwill Ambassador
“MAGIC FLUTE”
She is a “Magic Flute. There is now a Turkish flutist among the famous flutists in the world music arena. I am deeply impressed by this charming and emotional musician; she is a master technician with great musicianship. The audience was thrilled by the technical excellence displayed by Kutluer; she has a delicate control of tone color. Her articulation of “Flatterzunge” or flutter tonguing is superb. Her fingering is the best, but flute players know that fingering is perhaps half the effort. The remainder is the responsibility of the lungs, diaphragm, throat, lips, and tongue. Kutluer has all these components completely under control, and she imparted a shimmering brilliance to the music. This musician, who is a true master both emotionally and technically, adds a striking beauty to the music with her flute.”
New York Times
“She makes music because she has to; it is something she can’t really choose. It is a divine gift of God, a means of touching the divine that only a relatively few people are given on this planet. It is very rare and precious. She is blessed to be one of the chosen ones.”
American Record Guide
Sefika Kutluer has studied at Ankara State Conservatory for 10 years, advancing four grades, and graduated with honors and awards in 1979. She achieved her soloist career in Vienna and Rome.
She taught at the Ankara Conservatory for several years.
She received many international awards and won 1st prize in Vienna’s “International Flute Contest“.
After winning several international competitions and launching her truly international career as a soloist, she was awarded the Presidential Medal in Turkey in 1985, the highest honor that country bestows on an individual. In 1998, she became a “State Artist.”
She is known as the “Magic Flute” after the headline the ‘New York Times’ critics wrote.
Şefika Kutluer is the Flute Soloist at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
She received the “Golden Bravo Award” as the “Best Classical Performer, in Russia at the Bolshoi Theatre. And she performed with the Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra on April 25th, 2023.
She has been decorated with;
State Golden Medal – by the President of Italy,
“Austrian Gold Medal of Merit” by the President of Austria,
the “Cultural Medal” of the Republic of Kazakhstan and
Slovak Republic’s special award – the “Golden Medal of Honour”.
She received the 2000 Inter-Lyra prize from the Hungarian Foundation for Performing Arts’
She has been appointed as the “Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF”.
She received the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality’s “Adding Value to Ankara” award and the “Strategic Vision Award” from the Turkish Asian Center for Strategic Studies (TASAM).
Şefika Kutluer received the award titled: “The Women of the Republic Who Left Their Mark in Performing Arts”
35th Ankara Film Festival presented Kutluer with the “Art Treasure (Monument of Art)” Award.
She has performed in numerous concerts in various countries on five continents at famous concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center in the USA, the Bolshoi Theater, Tchaikovsky Hall, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Hall in Russia, Suntory Hall in Japan, and Rudolfinum in Prague. She has also participated in International Music Festivals and received very favorable reviews.
She participated in radio and television programs and held “Master Classes”.
Also, Şefika Kutluer prepares and presents a weekly program called “Music of Emotions” on TRT Radio 3 Classical Music channel.
In 2018, the government of Israel invited her to represent Turkey. She attended Mashav’s 30th International Women Leaders Conference on “Leading Women Making a Difference” in Israel, where she gave a concert and delivered a speech. Women leaders (vice presidents, ministers, parliamentarians, and members of the Supreme Council) from 45 countries worldwide attended the conference.
She has performed concerts at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations Organization, at the Palace of Spain in the presence of the King and the Queen, and in Tokyo in the presence of Prince Mikasa.
Joined the 4th World Conference on Women, representing Turkey, in 1995 in Beijing, China, and gave a concert.
Kutluer represented Turkey in the Asian Symphony Orchestra, composed of artists from 40 Asian countries. In 2019, she performed the opening concert of The Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in Beijing, China, in front of President Xi Jinping and to an audience of 80,000. Then, she continued her concert tour in China.
On the 23rd of April 2025, she performed a concert at St.Paul’s Church in Tarsus to mark the presentation of the Golden Apple award to the city.
Ian Anderson composed a piece titled “Sefika’s Tango” especially for her, and she also performed it on a concert tour with Jethro Tull.
Arif Melikov, Turgay Erdener, Jose Elizondo, Rene Giessen, and Çetin Işıközlü have composed special music for her.
She made concerts with Claude Bolling dedicated to Jean-Pierre Rampal.
She has started an international festival in Ankara, which continues every year during the same period. “The first 15 International Şefika Kutluer Festivals – East Meets West” (www.sefikakutluerfest.com ) were organized annually from 2010 to 2024.
The International Şefika Kutluer Festival was chosen as the 1st place in the “Best Festival” category at the Ace of MICE Awards 2020, which is considered the Oscars of the ”meetings and events industry”.
Sefika Kutluer has released 17 albums, including recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of the United Kingdom. Her CDs are distributed worldwide, and reviewers and music lovers highly praise her discography.
Sony has awarded her the Carmen Fantasy CD, with a “GOLDEN CD PRIZE”.
The American Record Guide reviewers have chosen her “Bach Sonatas” CD as one of the best CDs of the year.
She also received the “GALLO GOLDEN CD COLLECTION” award from Gallo International, based in Switzerland, and her 17 CDs are published with this label.
Recently, she released a solo CD featuring her composition, written in honor of her beloved mother.
She is a Gallo International Management Artist.
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