Lunch Time Concert - June (Leyla Cemiloglu)

• Predtucha (Foreboding) 

• Smrt (Death) 

Leyla Cemiloglu is a concert pianist based in London, with a particular interest in exploring intersectionality in the arts, through collaboration with living composers, championing minority composers and seeking inspiration from other art forms. Leyla enjoys combining these interests and presenting them alongside her extensive knowledge of the mainstream classical repertoire, with the intention of finding a deeper meaning and relevance that speaks to current and future audiences, performing frequently across the UK and internationally. Leyla joined the original six-piano contemporary music ensemble Piano Circus in 2023, and joined the Wales-based ensemble Sinfonia Cymru in 2025. 

Leyla studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School for eight years, under the tutelage of Prof. Ruth Nye MBE. She went on to study with Prof. Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, for both her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, supported by the Guildhall School, the AJA, the William Barry Trust and the Headley Trust. During this time Leyla was Highly Commended in the 2018 Romantic Prize, a finalist in the 2020 Glass Sellers’ Beethoven Prize, and awarded the Concert Recital Diploma. Leyla is grateful for the close guidance of legendary Turkish pianist İdil Biret, on whose invitation Leyla performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in July 2023 in Bodrum, Turkey, as part of the festival held in her name. 

Other recent and upcoming projects include a radio-broadcast concert of music by Frank Zappa for BBC Total Immersion, with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s Ubu Ensemble, appearances with Piano Circus at the Cambridge Music Festival and the rainy days festival at the Luxembourg Philharmonie, a solo recital at the University of Surrey, and a fundraising concert in aid of earthquake relief in Turkey and Syria, for which Leyla founded and organised the Evil Eye Ensemble. 

Leyla is also in demand as a collaborative pianist, and places great importance on education, working frequently with instrumentalists and singers, as well as for instrumental teaching studios and schools such as St. Paul's Cathedral School and City of London School for Girls. When not at the piano, Leyla enjoys reading, attending art exhibitions, and escaping to the seaside.