Throughout his career Turkish-American violinist ERTAN TORGUL has enjoyed an eclectic and multi-faceted musical path. As a recitalist, chamber musician, soloist, concertmaster, and teacher he has toured around the world and collaborated with some of today’s most sought-after musicians and ensembles. 

Currently serving as a Lecturer of Violin & Chamber Music at University of California, Santa Barbara, and Affiliate Artist in violin at University of Houston, he has also been on faculties of University of Texas, at San Antonio, and Florida International University. He has conducted masterclasses, lectures, and workshops across the U.S. as well as in Turkey, Iceland, and Italy.

 Mr. Torgul has been a member of the award-winning SOLI Chamber Ensemble since 1996 and until recently, had been serving as its Managing/Artistic Director since 2011. Specializing in contemporary repertoire, the Ensemble performs concerts and residencies on both National and International stage. A strong advocate of contemporary music and living composers he has commissioned over 100 new works with SOLI and recorded six CDs, featuring commissioned works of American composers. Mr. Torgul is also a founding member of the critically acclaimed SUONO Trio, Quartet ES, and Quinteto Quilombo - a Tango Quintet specializing in Tango Nuevo – and has performed with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Michael Tilson Thomas, the Miami, Plymouth, Fry Street, Degas, and ROCO String Quartets, around the world.

He was in-residence at the Ojai Festival, Mainly Mozart, Point Counterpoint, and the Internationale Quartett akademie Prag-Wien-Budapest, and was the recipient of Austria’s prestigious Prix Mercure, a prize winner in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and a laureate of the Paolo Borciani International Quartet Competition.

As a soloist, guest concertmaster, and orchestral musician he has performed with some of the most recognized conductors, soloists and orchestras including San Francisco, Indianapolis, Houston, Sacramento, Phoenix, Tucson, Fort Worth symphonies and Dallas Opera orchestra among others. Before deciding to leave his post in 2012, Mr. Torgul has served as Associate and Acting Concertmaster of the San Antonio Symphony for 17 seasons. He has recorded “Defining Dahl. The Music of Ingolf Dahl.” under the Argo Label with New World Symphony, under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas.

 Recent season highlights include performances with Quartet ES for Hartt School of Music's "Uncertainty of Fate" virtual Festival, Beethoven Triple Concerto performance in Waynesboro and Staunton, Virginia with renowned cellist Jennifer Kloetzel and pianist Robert Koenig, under the Baton of Peter Wilson, performance with SUONO Trio on Four Seasons Arts series in Berkeley, CA, world premiere performance of composer Peter Lieuwen’s new work The QUAD Concerto with University of Houston Symphony Orchestra at Moores Opera House in Houston, TX, and a two-week tour to Northern Italy with SOLI Chamber Ensemble.

 Torgul started his violin studies at the Ankara State Conservatory at the age of twelve. Soon after he was entered in the “Special Status” program designed for gifted students where he studied with Prof. Suna Kan, one of Turkey’s premier soloists. In the U.S. Ertan continued his violin studies with Prof. William Barbini at California State University, Sacramento, and with Prof. Franco Gulli at Indiana University, and studied chamber music with Janos Starker, Menachem Pressler, Norbert Brainin, and members of Miami, Bartok, and Guarneri string quartets.