My name is Tolga Karaslan. I was born on February 20, 1995, in Pazarcık, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey. Music has been at the very center of my life since my early childhood.

I completed my primary education at Gaziantep Ali Tutkun Primary School, and in 2009, I was accepted into the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce Fine Arts High School, Department of Music. This period marked the beginning of my formal musical education. In 2013, I continued my academic journey at the Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory, where I studied Music Theory, deepening both my technical knowledge and artistic perspective.

My first encounter with music as a performer began in 2008 with the bağlama. However, it was in 2009, when I met the oud, that I truly began to discover my own musical identity. The oud became more than an instrument for me—it became a voice through which I could express my inner world.

One of the most significant influences on my artistic development has been my mentor and role model, Osman Yurdal Tokcan. Meeting him transformed not only my oud performance but also my understanding of music, aesthetics, and artistic responsibility.

Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of performing on various prestigious stages. I gave solo performances at the Young Classicists Festival in 2011 and 2013, and in 2014, I performed at the 4th International Mugham Festival in Azerbaijan. In 2015, I appeared as a guest artist at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall with the Armağan Durdağ Ensemble in the project “Portrait of Freedom.”

The year 2016 became a major turning point in my artistic life. Sharing the stage with the İzmir State Symphony Orchestra and the Presidential Symphony Orchestra was both an honor and a defining experience. In the same year, I was awarded First Prize in the Oud Category at the Young Instrumentalists Performance Competition in Memory of Tanburi Cemil Bey, organized by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Since February 2017, I have been working as an oud performer at the Istanbul State Turkish Music Ensemble, where I continue to contribute to the living tradition of Turkish music while exploring new expressive possibilities.

For me, music is not merely a form of expression; it is the deepest bridge I build between the past and the present. What I seek in the strings of the oud is not just sound, but the echo of my own soul.