Born in Adana in 1997, Cem Esen began his piano studies at the Çukurova State Conservatoire, where he studied with Can Çoker for seven years. Since 2010, he has continued his studies at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts Istanbul State Conservatoire under Prof. Metin Ülkü.

The young artist, who performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 with the Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra in 2009 and the Bursa State Symphony Orchestra in 2010, has won numerous awards. These include second place at the 2010 International Pera Piano Competition and the National Chopin Piano Competition, a place in the finals of the 2011 International Chopin Piano Competition held in Jelenia Gora, Poland, and first place at the 2012 National Adnan Saygun Piano Competition. At the latter competition, he performed Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Çukurova and İzmir State Symphony Orchestras.

Esen, who also took part in the Antalya Piano Festival in 2012, won third prize at the International Delphi Days in Kazakhstan and the International Maria Herrero Piano Competition in Spain, and was accepted into the Young Musicians on World Stages programme. In 2014, he received the Special Prize for Original Interpretation at the International Piano Competition in Estonia.

The artist, who publishes his own compositions, has a total of 83 works to his name, twenty of which are in the opus style. Esen, who has also written numerous songs in Turkish for soprano and tenor, released two albums during the 2019–2020 season: “Tragic Lieds”, recorded with Ayşe Ece Güneşşen, and “Evening Sun Lieds”, recorded with Alp Utku. In 2021, he released the album “Voyages: Chapter Istanbul” in collaboration with violonist Elvin Hoxha Ganiyev.

Through Portemento Edition, which he founded in 2020, he publishes works by Turkish composers on online platforms worldwide.

The artist, who has participated in masterclasses led by Peter Florian, Andrej Dutkievich, Stephan Kovacevich, Ludmil Angelov, Jun Kanno, Emre Şen, Johann Schmith and Diana Anderson, continued his studies at the Hannover University of Music with Roland Krüger.

He was a scholarship holder of the ‘Young Musicians on the World Stage’ programme run by Cem Esen Güher and Süher Pekinel. Since 2012, he has been a member of the ‘Young Musicians on the World Stage’ system established by Güher and Süher Pekinel.