Cenk Esen is a pianist, composer and music producer based in London, UK and Istanbul, Turkey. 

 

His first full album It’s a Family Thing (2021) featured nineteen international artists, received over 50,000 streams worldwide, and was debuted during the Istanbul Jazz Festival 2021 at one of Istanbul’s most famous venues the Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Stage. Cenk has also released two EP’s and is a founding member of Portrait and a Dream, whose self-titled album has been included in Bandcamp’s permanent list of “Best Jazz Albums” on the platform. 

 

Since settling in London he has toured as a keyboard player with various Jazz, Fusion, Rap, Latin and other improvisation-focused projects around the UK, Europe and the United States. Some recent performances include the London Jazz Festival (at the Southbank Centre), New York Winter Jazz Festival, Marsden Jazz Festival, Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, Pizza Express Holborn (with the Romarna Campbell Trio), Montreux Jazz Festival and Shindig Festival 2022 (with Shunaji). He also regularly performs with drummer Josh Mckenzie (known as Mcknasty)

 

Apart from concert performances he recently composed music for the dance performance of Matsena Productions’ ’Shades of Blue’, which debuted at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in May 2022. He is also a teacher for Islington Piano Teachers providing piano lessons to students of all ages and backgrounds in London.

 

Prior to moving to the UK, Cenk graduated with a Piano Performance degree in May 2020 from Berklee College of Music in Boston and was also a student at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, founded and led by master pianist Danilo Perez. 

 

Cenk is also one of the producers of electronic live and experimental projects Mysthree and Time Like Dust, with Mysthree’s album ‘part of me is still human’ being released on London-based label Inside Out Records in 2019. 

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Discography:

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Cenk Esen 

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‘It’s a Family Thing’ - 2021

‘Glacier’ - 2020

’Phases’ - 2019

 

Releases as a band member and/or producer

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Portait and a Dream - ‘Portait and a Dream’ - 2022

ŞAM - ‘P.İ.Ç’ - 2021

Develer - ‘Sanatorium’ - 2021

Time Like Dust - ‘Time Like Dust’ - 2020

FM Collective - ‘224 Commonwealth’ - 2020

Mysthree - ‘part of me is still human’ - 2019

Potrait and a Dream - ‘Red Planet’ - 2019