Süeda Çatakoğlu

(She/her)

Süeda Çatakoğlu is a pianist, composer, singer, and educator from Turkey based in Boston. She recently released her debut album Süeda Sings Sezen under the Ahenk Müzik record label. She is joined by many wonderful guest musicians from Berklee, Boston, New York, Germany, and Turkey. This record reimagines a collection of Sezen Aksu Songs that are most special to Süeda’s heart through a fusion of Jazz, Musical theater, and European Cabaret. Her artistry weaves from classical piano with modern jazz, her vocals echoing the Cabaret, Rock, and Broadway.

She graduated as a full-tuition scholar at Berklee College of Music and specializes in Jazz Composition, Contemporary Writing and  Production, and Jazz Piano Performance. Süeda has received degrees and special awards in competitions such as the International Pera Piano Competition, Izmir Saygun Piano Competition, and the 2nd Hacettepe National Piano Competition. Her solo graduation recital at the Pierre Boulez Saal, one of  Europe’s leading concert halls, attracted the attention of music authorities in Berlin and was praised in the German press. She performed her song Mülteci Kaldım with an international group of musicians at a political activism and fundraising concert at the Berklee Performance Center.

She has a lot of experience teaching beginner to advanced conservatory students in terms of piano, music theory of various music traditions, composition, songwriting harmony and solfège, and coaching for conservatory auditions. She has advanced knowledge about conservatory and music college curriculum and she always prioritizes the use of this material if it meets the students’s current needs.  She also worked for Berklee’s known Five Week Aspire Program as an accompanist and contributed to the voice and ensemble classes with her distinctive knowledge of multiple styles.

She worked in musical shows at Berklee, therefore she loves to work with vocalists who have an interest in jazz, musical theater, pop, and rock singing. “Sueda has been one of my students studying jazz and contemporary improvisation piano with me for the past year at Berklee. Before attending Berklee  College her main discipline was in the classical tradition in which she achieved a profound high level of excellence. Her first semester at Berklee she won the Emanuel Zambeli Scholarship award which is given to students with a classical background and training. The winners of the Emanuel Zambelli Award also play a solo recital in one of the main concert halls at Berklee.

Prof. Steve Hunt’s review of her solo recital at Berklee:

“Sueda played an hour-long recital which included works from all the greats, Mozart, Chopin Debussy, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff. The entire concert was just fantastic and on an impressive professional level. The piano department chair and the other faculty member that attended the recital were very impressed with her technical abilities and musical beauty and awareness.” – Steve Hunt, jazz pianist