BÜŞRA KAYIKÇI
about
Büşra Kayıkçı
Born and raised in Istanbul, the composer and pianist Büşra Kayıkçı has an artistic foundation deeply rooted in a diverse range of disciplines. While devoted to piano since the age of nine, she also pursued ballet and attended art school on the weekends, fostering a multifaceted creative sensibility. Her academic background in interior architecture and environmental design at university further informs her unique approach to music, where structure and fluidity intertwine.
As an interdisciplinary artist, Kayıkçı seeks to forge a distinctive voice at the intersection of music, space and visuals. Since her debut recording Eskizler (2019), she has continued to expand her sonic language through projects including Places (2024) and Weaving (2025), gradually extending her acoustic piano writing into a broader world of texture, field recording and electronics, culminating in her latest project, Beyond Walls – Istanbul (2026), released by Warner Classics.
Her latest album brings this interdisciplinary approach into its clearest focus. First presented through the documentary Duvarların Ötesinde (Beyond Walls), the project sees Kayıkçı develop five musical portraits of landmark buildings in her home city, opening a dialogue between soundscapes, architecture, history and memory. Moving through Istanbul from the Grand Bazaar and Sirkeci Post Office to the Atik Valide Complex, Tanpınar Museum and the former Ottoman Bank, today SALT Galata, she approaches each building not simply as a visual object, but as a living space shaped by its function, atmosphere and the people who have moved through it.
Across Beyond Walls – Istanbul, acoustic piano is interwoven with electronic textures and field recordings captured inside and around each location. Sounds particular to the buildings become part of the compositions themselves—sometimes appearing as subtle atmospheric layers, elsewhere transforming into rhythmic pulses and textures. The result extends Kayıkçı’s idea of composition beyond melody alone, treating music almost as a form of spatial design.
“In a way, as a composer, I design a place, and the audience walks around in it and moves within its architecture,” she explains. “I believe that, when listening to a song, we travel from space to space, and from time to time.”
Kayıkçı has presented her music at major international venues and festivals including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Wiener Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Funkhaus Berlin and Piano Era Festival Tokyo, as well as an ARTE Concert “Piano Day” performance in France. In 2026, she made her North American concert debut at Le Festif! in Québec, where her performance was named among the festival’s five standouts by Le Journal de Québec.
Her work has also crossed into dance, fashion and multidisciplinary performance. Her music has been featured by New York Theatre Ballet, while a rework of her composition “The Middle of Nowhere” by Nicolas Jaar was featured in Givenchy’s Paris Fashion Week 2025 show. Her work has received international recognition from The New York Timesand The Wall Street Journal, and in 2024 she received two nominations at Germany’s Opus Klassik Awards, including Best Neo-Classical Album and Music Video of the Year.
Published by Faber Music, Kayıkçı released Eskizler, her first complete collection of piano sheet music, in 2026. She is also a Voting Member of the Recording Academy.