Barkin Sertkaya is an internationally acclaimed guitarist and an academic. He performs extensively in New Zealand as a solo guitarist and in ensembles and directs the guitar studio at the University of Auckland – School of Music.

 

As a soloist, he performed in numerous festivals and won competitions throughout South-East Europe, toured with the renown vocal artist Cem Adrian, performed with celebrated Turkish pianist Fazil Say, delivered hundreds of solo/ chamber recitals and was handpicked as a multi-instrumentalist performer in Cirque du Soleil’s ZED. Before arriving at New Zealand, he frequently took stage with Turkish symphony orchestras and performed guitar concerti of M.C.Tedesco, L.Brouwer, J.Rodrigo and H.V.Lobos and enjoyed a busy life of a multi-instrumentalist.

In his post New Zealand career, he performed in concerts including Auckland town hall, Cambridge and Hamilton guitar societies, Christchurch, Timaru, Nelson, Taranaki (TCGSS2020) Coromandel, New Plymouth and Dunedin (Arts Festival 2023). His New Zealand debut tour "Anatolia-Aotearoa" was a homage to his journey from Anatolian homeland to greener pastures in Aotearoa, where he performed works of Turkish and Kiwi composers. He made several collaborations with Kiwi composers such as Bruce Paine (CreativeNZ funding of Seikilos Chimes 2020), Dylan Lardelli, Chris Gendall, Ben Hoadley and performed with world-renown artists in Australia and New Zealand in ensemble settings. Most notably, he performed in several shows of the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, took stage with the Auckland Tango Quintet and partnered with Australian soprano Emma Pearson on their “Serenade Tours” in New Zealand.

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The unique repertoire he performs as a soloist includes arrangements of J.S. Bach ,a selection from music of R.Dyens, H.V. Lobos, L.Brouwer, G.Sanz and a contemporary Eastern European playlist of Bogdanovic, Bayraktar and Domeniconi that concentrates on Anatolian culturescapes. Currently pursuing his final post-graduate degree in the same university he teaches, Barkin expands on contemporary music for the classical guitar as well as focusing on his roots of Southeast-European and Middle-Eastern instruments and music.