Turkish pianist KCS is the Grand Prize winner of the 2022 Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize, where he was also awarded the Recording Prize. 

Can Sağlam has performed in concert halls such as the Morgan Library & Museum’s Gilder Lehrman Hall in New York, Wiener Saal in Salzburg, Verbrugghen Hall in Sydney and in other venues in cities such as Paris, Nice, Brussels, Cleveland, Verona and Istanbul. He has appeared in festivals such as the Gümüşlük Classical Music Festival, Antalya Piano Festival and Bellapais Music Festival. This season, he will appear at the 2024 Sydney Festival as the winner of The Rex Hobcroft People’s Choice Prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition, as well as in concerts with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James Judd and New Manhattan Sinfonietta conducted by Gürer Aykal.

Born in 1999 in Ankara, he began his musical education with Gamze Kırtıl at the Bilkent University’s Music and Ballet Primary School at the age of seven. After studying with Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music, he received his bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he was a recipient of the Ahmet Ertegün Memorial Scholarship and the Susan W. Rose Piano Fellowship twice.

In 2018, he was accepted as a scholar of “Young Musicians on World Stages” (YMWS), led by Güher-Süher Pekinel. During his studies, he has had the chance to work with musicians such as Jacques Rouvier, Pavel Gililov, Boris Berman, Ilya Itin, Michel Beroff, Jean-Francois Heisser, Gabriela Montero and Emanuel Ax. He is currently pursuing graduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the direction of Maestro Babayan.

1-6. Suite in D minor, HWV 428 (1720)
George Friderick Handel
I. Prelude 1:02
II. Allegro (Fugue) 2:28
III. Allemande 2:06
IV. Courante 1:02
V. Air & 5 Variations 4:03
VI. Presto 1:57

7-9. Piano Sonata No.1 in D minor, Op.28 (1908)
Sergei Rachmaninoff
I. Allegro Moderato 12:31
II. Lento 8:41
III. Allegro Molto 13:53

10. In the Silence of the Secret Night,
Op.4 No.3 from 6 Romances (1893) 2:42
Sergei Rachmaninoff (tran. Earl Wild)

11. Bozlak (2023) 6:20
Ilayda Deniz Oğuz

Total time: 56:51
Release date: March 22, 2024
UPC: 053479227201

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Quotes & Reviews

“Violinists Zachary Carrettin and Yueun Kim deliver outstanding playing in Bach’s Double Concerto in D minor. Festival Artistic Director Mina Gajić – whose work as a superbly accomplished pianist I have long admired and reviewed – makes the D minor keyboard concerto sound as if it had been written for her. Both the gifted vocal soloists – soprano Josefien Stoppelenburg and mezzo-soprano Claire McCahan – sing with impeccable command of the JC Bach sacred Baroque style. Cellist Coleman Itzkoff provides a rock-solid foundation throughout the concert. All six artists shine in the closing concert of the indispensable Boulder Bach Festival.” - Rafael DeAcha, All About The Arts