Born in Istanbul and raised in Vienna, tenor Ilker Arcayürek is First Prize winner of the International Song Competition of the Hugo Wolf Academy, a finalist of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2015 and a former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.
He began his operatic career at the Zurich Opera Studio and subsequently became an ensemble member at Stadttheater Klagenfurt and Staatstheater Nürnberg. His roles include in particular Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Idomeneo, Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and Rodolfo (La bohème), and more recently also Max (Der Freischütz) and Erik (Der fliegende Holländer). Guest engagements have taken him, among others, to Teatro Real Madrid, the Munich Opera Festival, the Salzburg Festival, Volksoper Vienna and Oper Graz.
Among the stage directors with whom he has worked are, among others, Peter Konwitschny, Claus Guth, Mariame Clément, Christoph Marthaler, Sven-Eric Bechtolf, Kasper Holten, Barbora Horáková, David Bösch, Immo Karaman, Tobias Kratzer, Richard Brunel and Dennis Krauß.
He made his US operatic debut as Nadir in Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles at Santa Fe Opera. In 2022 he appeared as Ariel and Pater Ecstaticus in Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. He also celebrated major success as Tamino at the Canadian Opera Company Toronto, at the International Edinburgh Festival 2023 and in Tokyo (Bunkamura) in 2024 with Bach Collegium Japan.
On the concert platform, Ilker Arcayürek regularly collaborates with renowned orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Orchestre National de Lyon, Danish Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has performed under conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Ivor Bolton, Philippe Jordan, Ádám Fischer, Maxim Emelyanychev, Marin Alsop, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Philippe Herreweghe, Riccardo Minasi, Laurence Equilbey, Marie Jacquot, Mikhail Pletnev, Lars Vogt, Masato Suzuki, Oksana Lyniv, Jordi Savall, Alexander Soddy, Stephan Zilias and Dennis Russell Davies.
Alongside his opera and concert activities, art song holds a special place in his artistic work. He regularly collaborates with pianists such as Simon Lepper, Malcolm Martineau, Ammiel Bushakevitz, Daniel Heide, Hartmut Höll and Wolfram Rieger. Recitals have taken him, among others, to the International Edinburgh Festival, Oper Frankfurt, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg/Hohenems, Wigmore Hall London, Schubertiada Vilabertran, Antwerp (deSingel), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Barcelona (Life Victoria), Innsbruck, Stuttgart (Hugo Wolf Academy), as well as to his US debut in New York (Park Avenue Armory) and to San Francisco.
His CD recordings have received numerous awards and have twice been nominated for the Opus Klassik.
Recent engagements in 2025 brought Ilker Arcayürek back to Opera Vlaanderen, where he successfully debuted as Max in Weber’s Der Freischütz. He also made his Italian debut in Milan with Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano in Handel’s Messiah and toured Europe under Philippe Herreweghe and with the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, with appearances including Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Bozar Brussels and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.
Future engagements in the 2025/2026 season include, among others, his role debut as Erik in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at Theater Osnabrück, several concerts under Jordi Savall at Philharmonie Paris including Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht and Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge, further concerts at Wigmore Hall London, song recitals with Malcolm Martineau at Teatro Arriaga Bilbao, Elijah with the Danish National Philharmonic in Sønderborg, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic in Istanbul.
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