Güher Pekinel

Güher Pekinel — Biography

Güher Pekinel (born March 29, 1953, in Istanbul) is a Turkish pianist who, together with her twin sister Süher Pekinel, is known worldwide as one half of the piano duo "the Pekinel Sisters." She began her musical training under her mother, herself a professional pianist, made her first stage appearance at age six, and gave her first concert with the Ankara Philharmonic Orchestra alongside her sister at age nine. After Notre Dame de Sion High School, she moved to France in 1963, training at the Paris Conservatoire, the Frankfurt University of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music in the United States; at 18 she took a two-year break from music to study psychology at Goethe University.

After completing graduate studies at Juilliard and, concurrently, at the Frankfurt conservatory in 1978, the Pekinel sisters won numerous prizes as a duo and as soloists in international competitions in Germany, the United States and Italy, including the UNESCO World Music Competition, where they represented Germany. Their discovery by Herbert von Karajan in 1984 and the resulting invitation to the Salzburg Festival marked a turning point in a career that has since taken them to stages with leading orchestras worldwide.

Güher Pekinel was named a State Artist of Turkey in 1991, received an honorary doctorate from Boğaziçi University in 1987, and the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts Honor Award in 2013. In January 2021 she and her sister received Germany's Order of Merit, and in February 2024 a Lifetime Achievement Award presented in Spain.