Biography

İlayda Deniz Oğuz (b. 2000) is a Turkish composer, pianist, and historical keyboardist based in London. Her work brings together composition, performance, improvisation, and historical performance practice, with a particular focus on contemporary music and interdisciplinary approaches to sound. Oğuz’s repertoire ranges from fifteenth-century music to contemporary works. 

Her music has been performed internationally by ensembles including the Norway-based Cikada Ensemble, the Lucerne-based Dissolution Ensemble, the USA-based Ensemble X, the Greece-based Ergon Ensemble, and members of Oslo Sinfonietta. Recent highlights include the performance of her solo violin work Scenes from Little Prince by French violinist Eliott Bougant at the Lucerne Festival in 2024, and the premiere of her orchestral work Ben o yılların macerasından geldim… (I came from the adventures of those years) by the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Tolga Atalay Ün in 2025.

Oğuz began composing at an early age. At fourteen, she became the youngest finalist in the history of the prestigious National Nejat Eczacıbaşı Composition Competition in Turkey with her work Anlatamıyorum for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, later performed by the İzmir State Symphony Orchestra under Serdar Yalçın. In 2023, she won the Royal College of Music Contemporary Music Competition Composer Award for Yakamoz for bass clarinet and violoncello, and in 2024 received an honorable mention in the International İhsan Doğramacı Composition Competition for Ben o yılların macerasından geldim (I came from the adventure of those years…). In 2025, her Four Pieces for Piano were selected at the final round at the 6th Mauricio Kagel International Composition Competition. In 2025, she was awarded the Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal at her Royal College of Music graduation.

Her compositional and improvisational work has been shaped through studies and masterclasses with composers including Francesco Filidei, Mauro Lanza, Clara Iannotta, Francesca Verunelli, Nadir Vassena, Alex Paxton, Dai Fujikura, Mark Andre, Samir Odeh-Tamimi, Eivind Buene, Hanna Eimermacher, and Ulrich Kreppein.

As a pianist, Oğuz made her concerto debut in 2014 with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto with her own cadenza under the direction of Dağhan Doğu. She has since appeared with orchestras including the Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Agora Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Başkent Academic Orchestra. Alongside her solo activities, she is active as a collaborative pianist and chamber musician.

She is also a member of the London-based Iridescence Ensemble, alongside Sofía Gómez Alberto, Méline Le Calvez, and Anna Crawford. The ensemble focuses on twentieth- and twenty-first-century repertoire, combining contemporary music with lesser-known chamber works in imaginative programmes. Since its formation, the group has performed at venues including Burgh House, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, The Assembly House, while also collaborating closely with emerging composers and presenting new works alongside established contemporary repertoire.

Alongside modern piano, Oğuz performs on fortepiano, harpsichord, and clavichord. She has studied historical performance with musicians including Robert Levin, Bart van Oort, Tuija Hakkila, Ashley Solomon, Steven Devine, Carole Cerasi, Riccardo Cecchetti, Terence Charlston, Jane Chapman, and Robert Woolley.

Oğuz began her musical studies at the Bilkent University Music Preparatory School in Ankara, where she studied piano with professors Zerin Rasul and Deren Eryılmaz, composition with Yiğit Aydın, Orhun Orhon, and music theory and solfege with Maria Nowotna. During this period, she received extensive training in piano, composition, chamber music, and music theory, forming the foundation of her later studies and artistic development. Oğuz completed her Bachelor of Music, Master of Performance, and Artist Diploma studies at the Royal College of Music, London, where she was the Mills Williams Junior Fellow and David Young Piano Scholar, supported by the Kenneth and Violet Scott Award and the Lady Parnassus Scholarship. There, she studied piano with Dina Parakhina, Dinara Klinton, Gordon Fergus-Thompson, and Dmitri Alexeev, composition with Kenneth Hesketh and Alison Kay, and fortepiano with Geoffrey Govier. She later served as Historical Keyboards Fellow at the Royal College of Music 2025 - 2026. She is also grateful to Sound and Music and the Worshipful Company of Musicians for their support.