The Turkish violist Öykü Canpolat-Rast (*1993 in Izmir) is one of the most promising young musicians of her generation.  In April 2015, she won first prize as well as a special audience prize at the seventh International Szymon-Goldberg Competition. From 2016 to 2020, she was a tenured member as Associate Principal Viola at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

In February 2020, she followed her path as a orchestra musician and became 1. Principal Violist in the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne. She is also a member of the most known opera festival Bayreuther Festspiele as Principal and co-principal Violist.

Besides her orchestral career, in the winter semester 2023/2024 she started teaching as Professor for Viola at the University of Music Stuttgart.

Öykü Canpolat-Rast sharpened her musical profile as Principal Violist throught playing with numerous famous orchestras such as Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhaus Leipzig, MDR Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra etc. Under the baton of  Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Christian Thielemann, Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Harding, Francois-Xavier Roth, Christian Blomstedt, Andris Nelsons.

Highlights of her musical journey as a soloist includes her debuts with Gürzenich Orchestra, Izmir Symphony Orchestra, KODA Chamber Orchestra, Adana Symphony Orchestra, with W. Walton Viola Concerto, F. Schubert`s Arpeggione, C.M. Von Weber`s Andante e Rondo, W.A. Mozart`s Sinfonia Concertante. She is also a passionate chambermusic violist, in that field she recorded a CD (Maria Bach`s Wolga-Quintet) and also perfomed with artists such as Jean-Guihen Queyras and Tabea Zimmermann.

Öykü Canpolat-Rast started her studies at the age of nine, she became a student of Prof. Cetin Aydar, at the State Conservatory „Dokuz Eylül Universitaet“.

In 2013 she continued her studies (Bachelor of Music) at the Hochschule für Musik ´Hanns Eisler` in Berlin, where she taught by Prof. Pauline Sachse und Prof. Friedemann Weigle. Next to her studies she was a member of the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester Berlin) while also playing with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra as a substitute.

In 2015, she began her Master Studies at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ in Berlin with world known violist Prof. Tabea Zimmermann.  She graduated with Highest Honors in 2019.

Öykü Canpolat-Rast is playing with a modern viola from Tobias Seidl and with a bow from Klaus Grünke.