Nazife Aral Guran
 
She was born on 05 September 1932 in Vienna. She is the first woman composer in Turkey. With her birth, the latest Ottoman Ambassador Mr.Huseyin Hilmi, who had some serious health problems, got bounded to life again, as she was like water for him, giving him life. The Schönbrun Park was the main factor, from which she was influenced through its natural beauty, in creating her work of arts. After her grandfather died, they moved back to the city Ankara which is the capital of Turkey, where the notion of nationalism was highly felt. It is the city where Mustafa Kamal Ataturk has lived so she was lucky to breath the air of national notions.She has a lot of compositions through which we can sense and witness how much she loved and regarded her county and  her flag. As she had no piano, it was her mother who converted her poems into notes. Due to her fathers official post duty, he was sent abroad again and there in Caucasus, she got a piano, which she really deserved. Her first teacher from whom she got some professional music lessons, was Sushik Abbas, who made some revisions on her compositions. When she got back to her country Turkey, she continued her music education at the Cemal Resit Rey Academy where she took some piano and harmony lessons and at the Isik College in Istanbul.  Due to an official duty of her father, they moved again but this time to Germany, Berlin. Her education had been developed in Berlin as she attended the "The High Music Academy", in Berlin, she was taught by Prof.Rudolph Schmidt and by Prof.Paul Höffer. Her first record had been presented in Prague with the help of Prof.Paul Höffer. With the encouragement of Mr.Husrev Gerede her first concert was held at the "Radio of Berlin". During this time there was the second world battle which affected her emotionally on a negative side and beside to this, Ataturk's death had lead her to pessimistic mood. When she was back at her homeland she worked together with Dr.Praeterius. In 1944 she composed a national work for a chorus and orchestra written by Sir Hak Hamid called "Tedbiri Milliye"  which was followed by guitar serenades and her compositions of  "The Sfenc Sonates" and "The Sultan of Mehlika".  During the Korean War, she composed the "Korean March". The Turkish soldiers had been sent to Korea in accompany with this march. She got married during this time and the Street name in Ankara where she lived had been changed to "The Compositor Street"
 
She established also the first Philarmony Orchestra in Diyarbakir, Turkey and she got famous with the children orchestra which was established by her. In 1960 she got some support from UNESCO, which helped her in introducing and sympathizing the Classical Western Music to Turkey. 
 
When the USA president Kennedy had been shot, she composed the Kennedy Nocturne within the same week. Afterwards this composition has been accepted and welcomed by the Kennedy Museum and Nazife Guran was awarded. 
 
As she believed that learning is an endless and timeless process, she got a training in Germany again, in 1965 at the Musikschule Academy, she had presented a lot of concerts at the radio Koln. 
 
Istanbul 1970: She composed more than 1000 compositions which she had collected under 6 groups.
National Compositions
Religious Compositions
Songs (Liedler)
Songs for Children
Piano Compositions
Musical plays
 
She also worked as an artist, at the Turkish-American University Association, at the Austrian Culture Institute, at the Turkish-Japan Culture Association.
She died during she was studying to convert her composition "The Sultan of Meliha" into an opera.
 
Since 1995, EKINOKS has been the sponsor for the remembrance concerts of Nazife Aral Guran, the first Turkish woman composer. These concerts are being organized once in each year at which the compositions created by Nazife Guran are being played.