Dr. Selim Giray Violin, Viola, Chamber Music Associate Professor of Music Pittsburg State University Department of Music 1701 S. Broadway Pittsburg, KS 66762 620/235-4472 office phone 620/235-4468 fax sgiray@pittstate.edu

Dr. Selim Giray is Associate Professor of Violin, Viola and Chamber Music at Pittsburg State University.  Between the years of 2000 and 2003, Dr. Giray taught at Interlochen Arts Camp. As a violinist, Dr. Giray has performed extensively in three continents, and has appeared frequently on national public radio and television. He has performed as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral player.  Currently, he serves as Concertmaster of The Ohio Light Opera and Principal Second Violin of the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

Also an active researcher, currently he is editing Adnan Saygun's violin concerto for the Peermusic Classical Europe (to be published in September of 2007).  In addition, he recently recorded for the Albany Records with pianist Dr. June Chun.  In 2003 Edwin Mellen Press published Dr. Giray's treatise titled A Biography of the Turkish Composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun and a Discussion of his Violin Works. The Minister of Culture of Turkey published the same work in Turkish, with a preface by then Minister of Culture, Istemihan Talay.

In 2004, the Rotary Foundation awarded Dr. Giray with a grant that sponsored him to teach throughout the summers of 2006–07 at Istanbul Technical University [Istanbul International Spectral Music Conference] in Istanbul, Turkey.  In the summer of 2006, as part of his teaching, Dr. Giray was the only professor to have the honor of giving master classes with the foremost Turkish violinist, Prof. Cihat Askin at the CAKA project [Young Friends of Cihat Askin].  In addition to his teaching, Dr. Giray performed at the 34th International Istanbul Music Festival as a member of Istanbul Chamber Orchestra.  Also, he played as Acting Concertmaster of Istanbul Chamber Orchestra in Islamabad, Pakistan, where he performed in front of an elite audience of foreign dignitaries.  During that trip, Dr. Giray gave lectures and master classes at Istanbul Technical University, Bilkent University, and Yildiz University in Turkey, and Edison Academy in Germany. 

Dr. Giray is also an active adjudicator; throughout the years he judged and offered clinics throughout the US. He has been the State Solo Judge in Kansas last two years, and recently, he presented with master luthier Anton Krutz at the Kansas Music Educators Association’s In Service Workshop in Wichita, Kansas.  Additionally, Dr. Giray and Mr. Krutz have offered a poster session at the ASTA National Conference in Kansas City.

As a doctoral candidate at the Florida State University, Selim Giray studied with Eliot Chapo, former Concertmaster of such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic and the Dallas Symphony.  Prior to that, in 1992 he was awarded a joint fellowship from the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra and East Carolina University, where he studied with Fritz Gearhart, juror of Fischoff Competition.  A native of Istanbul, Selim Giray graduated from Istanbul State Conservatory and Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory, where he studied with Saim Akçil.

During his tenure at Pittsburg State University, Dr. Giray has recruited international students of the highest caliber.  As a result, students from such countries as Romania, China, South Korea, and Turkey have enriched his upper strings studio.  Within the years Dr. Giray’s students won numerous competitions, including various Concerto-Aria and Chamber Music Competitions, and the coveted American String Teachers Association Solo Competition—Winner of 2006 Kansas Chapter.  Dr. Giray’s students found success, where some were accepted to graduate programs of such highly regarded institutions as Rice University, the University of Oklahoma, and the Florida State University with scholarships, and some moved on into the professional world and are members of such notable orchestras as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Kansas City Symphony, Houston Symphony, and the Detroit Symphony.  Dr. Giray performs on an exquisite violin made by Ansaldo Poggi (1950).