Born in Istanbul in 1994, Mert Yeşilmenderes started playing the piano at the age of ten. He gave his first public recital at the Pera International Piano Festival in Istanbul when he was just eleven years old. After an intensive preparatory phase with Renan Koen and Ali Darmar, he began his piano and chamber music studies as a young student at the State Conservatory of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul in the class of Prof. Ece Demirci and graduated in 2016 from the class of Prof. Selen Bucak. During these years, Gülsin Onay, one of Turkey's leading pianists also gave Mert Yeşilmenderes further decisive artistic impetus. In 2017 he was allowed to develop further with a pedagogical and artistic focus at the Lübeck University of Music. Prof. Konstanze Eickhorst admitted him to her class and remained his most important mentor during his studies. He also had here the opportunity to work chamber music with the world-famous clarinetist Prof. Sabine Meyer.

 

Mert Yeşilmenderes had the opportunity to work with many pianists and pedagogues. Examples include courses with Julian Gorus, Peter Katin, Lilya Zilberstein, Ragna Schirmer, Johann Schmidt, Markus Groh, Ewa Kupiec, Silke Avenhaus, Hüseyin Sermet, Birgitta Wollenweber, Misha Dacic, Ilya Itin, Muza Rubackyte, Stephane Blet and Gilead Mishory. At the piano competition held as part of the 1st Ahmed Adnan Saygun Music Festival in Izmir, he was awarded with the prize for “Best Saygun Interpreter” and at the 10th International Piano Competition Pera with the “Mention Prize”.

 

Mert Yeşilmenderes gives many solo and chamber music concerts, especially in his home country Turkey and in Germany. He is a regular guest at leading music festivals as well as Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara. His concert recordings and interviews have been broadcast several times on Turkish radio. In 2023, two singles featuring cellist Poyraz Baltacıgil – Gabriel Fauré: Sicilienne and Vaja Azarashvili: Nostalgie – were released by Sea Major Music on all digital platforms. His first album “Schumann” - also featuring cellist Poyraz Baltacıgil - includes all of Robert Schumann’s works for cello and piano and has been released by Lila Müzik on all streaming platforms in 2024.

Mert Yeşilmenderes, who is teaching piano at the State Youth Music School Hamburg since 2023, also continues to perform concerts.