
Betul Soykan
Violin
Dr. Betul Soykan is the Violin and Viola Professor and Director of the Symphony Orchestra at UTRGV‐Brownsville, which joined the faculty on September 2015.
Being trained one of the best conservatories of Europe, Betul holds four degrees in Violin Performance and String Pedagogy. Some of her influential teachers throughout her studies were Igor Ozim, Iwona Wojciechowska and the great Romanian virtuoso Ion Voicu. Right after completion of her undergraduate, she was admitted to the Hochschule der Künste Bern in Switzerland, a prestigious conservatory with an exceptional string department founded by Max Rostal, with a full scholarship to study with Ulrich Lehmann and later on with world renowned violinist and pedagogue Igor Ozim, where she completed double Masters in Violin performance and String Pedagogy. She received a special distinction award for her Concert Diploma recital as well as first prize in the Concerto Competition of Swiss, where she was chosen to perform Samuel Barber’s violin concerto with the Bern Symphony Orchestra.
She has taken active part in master classes and seminars with world renowned musicians such as Vladimir Spivakov, Igor Ozim, Igor Oistrach, Victor Pikaizen, Trio di Trieste, Stanislav Apolin and Rudolf Baumgartner, Siegfried Palm.