Prof. Murat Sâlim Tokaç
Prof. Murat Sâlim Tokaç graduated from Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine in 1992 and completed his doctorate in Medical Microbiology at the same university. He also earned a doctorate in Turkish Religious Music at Marmara University.
In 1991 he was appointed as a ney and tanbur artist to the Ministry of Culture’s Samsun State Classical Turkish Music Choir, becoming its conductor in 2004. In 2007 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Istanbul State Turkish Music Research and Performance Ensemble, which he founded. Alongside ensemble concerts in Türkiye, he has given solo recitals and appeared on television programmes, and has performed and taught ney and tanbur seminars across Europe, North Africa, the USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Taiwan, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, Tatarstan, Armenia, Australia and Russia. In 1998 he was named “Musician of the Year” in Samsun.
As artistic director, soloist and ney/tanbur performer he has contributed to about seventy productions (CDs, records, books). From 2012 to 2021 he served as Director General of Fine Arts at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Türkiye while continuing as Artistic Director of the Istanbul ensemble. He was a member of the Atatürk Cultural Center Scientific Board (2018–2025). Appointed Professor at Haliç University Conservatory in 2022, he currently serves as Conservatory Director.