Ahmet Sönmezler - Resurrection (2021)

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Sönmezler was the Founding Chairman of the Music Department at the Girne American University from 2014 until 2019 in Cyprus. He became acquainted with the classical music at the age of five and began to play classical guitar professionally at the age of seventeen. He gave concerts at the Kammermusik Festival and Summer Academy in Austria, at the Cortona Contemporary Music Festival in Italy, at the SoundSCAPE Festival in Italy, at the 2nd Tucson Spanish and Flamenco Festival in USA, at the 1st Tucson International Guitar Festival in USA, at the 17th International North Cyprus Bellapais Music Festival in Cyprus, the gala concert at the Nicosia Old Town Classical, Jazz and World Music Festival in Cyprus and at the Middle East Technical University and Anatolian University National Conservatory in Turkey to name the few.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sönmezler’s debut album “Koyunbaba” was released in December 2015 that is available in the music stores in Cyprus and in Turkey and digitally on iTunes and Spotify. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sönmezler was one of the organizers of the First International Tucson Guitar Festival held at the University of Arizona School of Music in November 2009. He was the member of Tucson Guitar Society’s guitar orchestra and played at the first guitar section for 3 years. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sönmezler has given the world premieres of the works of many composers including Mark Zanter "Character Pieces for Guitar," Luca Vanneschi "Quattro Piccolli Pezzi Blu," and David S. Lefkowitz "(Sur-) Real (Cine-) Music I: The Chase Through Escher's Metamorphosen." Famous American composer John A. Carollo dedicated a solo classical guitar piece to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sönmezler called “Fantasia and semi-Passacaglia for guitar.” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sönmezler has performed for renowned Classical Guitar artists including Armin Egger, Massimo delle Cese, Philipe Villa, Mauricio Carrasco, Rafael Aguirre, Lukasz Kuropaczewski, David Tanenbaum, Paul Galbraith, Eduardo Fernandez, Sergio Assad, Odair Assad, David Russell and Manuel Barrueco.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Sönmezler earned his Bachelor of Music Degree from the Eastern Mediterranean University in Guitar performance in the first place with High-Honors, a Master of Music Degree in Guitar performance from the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Guitar performance with 4.00 cumulative GPA from the University of Arizona School of Music. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sönmezler studied with Bruce Saunders, Rick Peckham, Robin Stone, Scotty Johnson and with the world-renowned guitar virtuoso Steve Vai at the Berklee College of Music and completed Steve Vai Guitar specialist certificate. He is an endorsing artist of SUHR guitars, amps and accessories along with HANNABACH guitar strings.

Currently, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Sönmezler resides in Cyprus where he is teaching and performing on a regular basis. His second album which is an orchestral progressive rock album “Resurrection” is soon to be released and be available globally on many digital platforms.