Cem Duruöz
Cem Duruöz has studied with Safa Gürbüz and Ahmet Kanneci. After winning first prize in the Turkish National Guitar Competition at the age of seventeen, he participated in the master-classes of John Duarte, Oscar Ghiglia, and Eliot Fisk in Europe. In 1990, he moved to the United States and matriculated at Stanford University as a composition student while performing in Turkey, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Peru, and across the United States. Duruöz completed his graduate guitar studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with David Tanenbaum and at The Juilliard School with Sharon Isbin. Duruöz's recent concert appearances include performances as a soloist with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Turkey as well as recitals at the Paros Music Festival in Greece, the SESC/Pro-Música Guitar Festival in Brazil, the Eskisehir Festival in Turkey, the ICPNA Guitar Festival in Peru, and the South Bay Guitar Society in California, USA.

Duruöz has transcribed and recorded gamba music by French baroque composer Marin Marais in his first solo CD, Pièces de Viole (Centaur Records), which received critical acclaim in international magazines such as American Record Guide, Fanfare, Classics Today, Classical Guitar, and BBC Music. As a contemporary music enthusiast, he has also commissioned new works from emerging composers and recorded them along with masterpieces of the guitar repertoire by Walton and Davidovsky in his new CD Contemporary Music for Guitar (Centaur Records). His interest in world music has also given rise to ongoing collaborations with Argentine Tango singer Roberto Forte and bandoneonist Coco Trivisonno. Duruöz currently teaches guitar at Wesleyan University.