Babür Tongur (1955) is a Turkish Canadian composer, conductor and academician. He started his music education when he was four and started composing music at the age of six. At the age of eleven, he completed talent exams and was accepted to the İstanbul Municipal Conservatory. He started composition studies in Ankara State Conservatory in 1972, and started to study with A. Adnan Saygun in 1978 in Istanbul State Conservatory, completing his Bachelor, MA degrees and DMA in 1987.
He co-established The Tiyatora Orchestra (1979-1992) in Istanbul, and conducted the first productions of several major works in Türkiye. These productions included The Threepenny Opera and West Side Story.
Between 2000 and 2007, he conducted several operas, cantatas, and symphonic works with the MSGSU State Conservatory Orchestra. Between 1979 and 2007, he taught several classes, and programmed syllabi in the MSGSU State Conservatory.
He has composed for solo instruments, choir, chamber ensembles, and orchestra, as well as several other stage-works since 1973. He won several awards for these compositions. His works were performed in Türkiye, Europe and North America, and took place in several CDs. He has been commissioned by preeminent ensembles. His long-time contributions in stage works and his past in theater works influences his expressive musical language. In his compositions, he tells stories, and oftentimes he writes these stories, he explores paintings, and is freely inspired by other art forms. He explores human experiences such as love and death. His studies in ethnomusicology, which he defines as ‘musical anthropology’, nourishes his harmonic and modal language. His works have been defined as captivating, expressive and intense. Since 2009 he has lived, composed and taught in Canada.
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