Ertan Torgul, violin ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

I have always known that I would play the violin! Maybe because in a way I grew up in an Opera house! Walking around in the dusty depths of the Opera building in Ankara, Turkey while my Dad rehearsed Aida or maybe a Tchaikovsky ballet with the orchestra (He was the Bass Clarinetist). Sound of the orchestra filtering down through the giant stage elevator shaft while I sipped tea with the costume makers or the set designers in their studios, I have always known! But if it wasn’t for my Uncle’s clever tactics to convince my mom that “two musicians in one family will not be the end of the world as she knew it” my dream might not have come true. Ever since then I have been very lucky so I have studied with some amazing people and went to good schools, but enough of that already!

I love food! So I cook and eat well any chance I get. I am also a huge fan of great wines (Martinis, scotch and cigars as well but that’s another story), so I like to test how good they are with my lovely wife Kim and my friends as often as possible, you know who you are! Cycling has been a huge passion for years but lately I haven’t been riding much and earning a nickname among my cycling buddies as “the anchor”, maybe that has something to do with my eating as well!

I am addicted to watching full season DVDs of my favorite shows; House, Californication, West Wing, Star Trek, Lost etc. Once I start I can go on till the sun comes up. I can find an inspiring message in even the dumbest movies (Boat Trip excluded!)

I have always wanted to play the electric guitar like Stevie Ray Vaughan or Jimi Hendrix so I am still searching for that piece for violin where I get to have an exorbitant amount of pedals on the floor so I can make the fiddle sound like anything I want! (Sorry my fellow Americans but one of my favorite guitar solos, still to this day, is Jimi Hendrix’ National Anthem.)

I love what I do and I’m an incredibly lucky guy to have my wife Kimberly and our two “sons” Flapjack and Pablo in my life, since they make everything I do twice as much better.