Arcayürek’s 2018-19 season was launched with his recital debut at the Edinburgh International Festival and the opening of the Copenhagen Opera Festival where he appeared in concert, followed by a recital performance. A recital tour in February 2019 will see him make his highly anticipated United States recital debut at the Park Avenue Armory in New York and with San Francisco Performances, accompanied by pianist Simon Lepper. He will perform two recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall and complete cycles of Schubert’s Winterreise at the Innsbruck Festwochen and the Bibliotheksaal Polling. On the opera stage he makes his debut with Opera Graz as Lyonel in Flotow’s Martha and as the title role in Weber’s Oberon, as well as return to the Volksoper Wien in Lortzing’s Zar and Zimmermann. He will make his US operatic debut in the role of Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles at Santa Fe Opera in summer 2019.

Concert performances this season will take Ilker Arcayürek to London’s Royal Albert Hall as soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, followed by performances and a recording of the work for Naxos Records with the Danish Chamber Orchestra in Copenhagen under the baton of Adam Fischer. Further highlights of the season include his debut at Bozar’s Klarafestival singing Liszt’s Faust Symphony with the Orchestre National de Belgique under the baton of Hugh Wolff, his debut with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the baton of Mariss Jansons in Bruckner’s Mass in F minor, and performances of Thomas Larcher’s A Padmore Cycle with the Tiroler Symphonieorchester Innsbruck.

From 2015 to 2018, Ilker Arcayürek was a member of the ensemble of the Staatstheater Nürnberg, singing repertoire including Rodolfo in La Bohème, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Nadir in Les pêcheurs de Perles, the Evangelist in Bach’s St Matthew Passion, and Andres in Wozzeck. In 2016 he sang the role of Claudio in Kasper Holten’s production of Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot at the Teatro Real Madrid, and the 2017-18 season saw him making role debuts in Nürnberg in the title roles of Idomeneo, and Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, his debut at the Munich Opera Festival of the Bayerische Staatsoper in the world premiere of Nikolaus Brass’ Die Vorübergehenden, and a return to the Salzburg Festival in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia.

Born in Istanbul and raised in Vienna, Ilker Arcayürek gained his first experiences on international stages touring overseas, as well as in joint performances at Vienna’s Staatsoper, Volksoper and Kammeroper, as soloist with the Mozart Boy Choir in Vienna. He became a member of the Arnold Schönberg Choir and studied with Sead Buljubasic in Vienna, and participated in master classes with Thomas Quasthoff, Ileana Cotrubas, Sir Thomas Allen and Alfred Brendel. He joined the opera studio at Zürich Opera in 2010 performing in Rossini’s Otello (Gondoliere), Così fan tutte (Ferrando) and From the House of the Dead (Aljeja) as well as in concert performances with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra at the Tonhalle Zürich and KKL Luzern. As member of the ensemble of the Stadttheater Klagenfurt in the 2013-14 season, he appeared as Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, Malcolm in Macbeth, The Prince in The Love for Three Oranges, Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte.

Ilker Arcayürek makes his home in Zürich with his wife and daughter.