Ilker Arcayürek, Tenor & Simon Lepper, Piano

The Guardian puts Ilker Arcayürek “in a class all his own” for his gilded tone, dramatic flexibility and captivating presence. “He is a very stylish singer” (Bachtrack). Simon Lepper is an authoritative and polished pianist who is the perfect counterpart to Arcayürek’s radiant technique, “his playing flowing and just on the right side of understatement” (The Guardian).

Born in Istanbul and raised in Vienna, tenor Ilker Arcayürek has emerged as one of the most exciting and versatile vocal artists in recent years—hailed by the press for his “golden tenor” (Opera Now Magazine) . He is a winner of the International Art Song Competition of Germany’s Hugo Wolf Academy, a finalist of the 2015 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. He was also selected to perform at Ronaldo Vilazon’s “Stars of Tomorrow” for ARTE. In 2017 Champs Hill Records released his first solo album Der Einsame, featuring Schubert songs accompanied by Simon Lepper, to great critical acclaim. His latest recording with Simon titled Path of Life for Prospero Classical has recently been nominated for 2 OPUS KLASSIK Awards.

Simon Lepper read music at King’s College, Cambridge before studying piano accompaniment with Michael Dussek at the Royal Academy of Music and later with Ruben Lifschitz at the Fondation Royaumont. He is a currently professor of collaborative piano and a vocal repertoire coach at the Royal College of Music, London where he also in charge of the collaborative piano course. Since 2003 he has been an official accompanist for the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.