Research associate
Nejla Melike Atalay studied musicology and composition in Istanbul (Mimar Sinan University) and Vienna (Prayner Conservatory, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna-mdw). Doctorate at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw).
Atalay wrote her doctoral thesis on the creative conditions of composing women before and during the Turkish Republic. In 2009-2017, parallel to her dissertation, she compiled the unpublished works, letters and diaries of the Turkish composer Avniye Nazife Aral-Güran (1921-1993).
Since 2009, she has been involved in numerous projects as an organiser and coordinator and participated as a lecturer in symposia on music and gender, women's studies at national and international level.
In 2019, Atalay's PhD thesis (Women Composers' Creative Conditions Before and During the Turkish Republic. A Case Study on three composers: Leyla Saz Hanımefendi (1850?-1936), Nazife Aral-Güran (1921-1993) and Yüksel Koptagel (b. 1931)) was awarded a prize (Herta-Kurt Blaukopf Awards) because of its social relevance.
Since January 2021, Atalay has been working as a research assistant at the Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae (CMO) project at the Universität of Münster.
“Materyal, Kuram ve Tatbik Çerçevesinde Nazife Aral-Güran Kişisel Arşivi [Nazife Aral-Güran's Personal Archive within the Framework of Material, Theory, and Practice]”, MSGSÜ Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 2023, 1 (27), 138-147.
“Ein Harmonium im Konak von Leyla [Saz] Hanımefendi (A Harmonium in the Konak of Leyla [Saz] Hanımefendi)”, TheMA: Open Access Research Journal for Theatre, Music, Arts Vol. IX/1-2 (2022) ISSN 2307-440X. (Engl.: A Harmonium in the Konak of Leyla [Saz] Hanımefendi/Tr.: Leyla [Saz] Hanımefendi’nin konağinda bir armonyum)
“Bir İstanbullu Besteci Nazife Aral- Güran ve Geride Bıraktıkları“, in: İstanbul’un Çoksesli Batı Müziği Tarihi , Ed. Serhan Bali. İstanbul Kültür ve Sanat Yayınları, İstanbul 2022. (Eng.: The Istanbul composer Nazife Aral- Güran and what she left behind/ Dt.: Die Istanbuler Komponistin Nazife Aral- Güran und was sie zurückgelassen hat)
Women Composers' Creative Conditions Before and During the Turkish Republic, Hollitzer Verlag. ISBN 978-3-99012-850-3
Orchesterlandschaft der Türkei und Aserbaidschan (Co-Autor Rauf Kerimov), in: Lexikon des Orchesters, Hrsg. Frank Heidlberger, Gesine Schröder, Christoph Wünsch. Laaber Verlag. ISBN 978-3-89007-551-8
„Nazife Aral-Güran“, in: Lexikon Musik und Gender, Hrsg. Prof. Dr. Annette Kreutziger-Herr und Prof. Dr. Melanie Unseld. Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart 2010.
„Meliha Doguduyal“, in: Lexikon Musik und Gender, Hrsg. Prof. Dr. Annette Kreutziger-Herr und Prof. Dr. Melanie Unseld. Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart 2010.
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nde Batı Müziği'nin Kurumsallaşma Süreci [Institutionalisierung der 'westlichen' Musik in der Republik Türkei- Teil II], Tuna Zeitschrift, Dezember 2020. Wien 2020.
Müzik Tarihi Yazımında Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda Batı Müziği'nin Kurumsallaşma Süreci [Institutionalisierung der 'westlichen' Musik im Osmanischen Reich in der Musikgeschichtsschreibung], Tuna Zeitschrift, November. Wien 2020.
Osmanlı'da Vals'in Yeri [The place of Walzes in the Ottoman Palace], Tuna Zeitschrift, Dezember. Wien 2019.
Turkish Composer Avniye Nazife Aral-Güran's (1921-1993) Life and Representation in Mass Media in the Light of Republican Politics of Music (Co-Autorin Zeynep Arıkan). International Symposium Paper Book, Writing Women's Lives: Auto/ Biography, Life Narratives, Myths and Historiography, Istanbul 2016.
Ein Essay über Frau, Musik und Männerherrschaft. Orkestra Musikmagazine, Ausgabe 432, Nov-Dez. Istanbul 2013.
01/ 2023 "Besteci Kadınların Türkiye Cumhuriyeti önce ve sonrasında Yaratım Koşulları. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’ndan Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’ne müzik tarihinde üç besteci üzerine bir vaka çalışması: Leyla [Saz] Hanımefendi (1850?-1936), Nazife Aral-Güran (1921-1993) ve Yüksel Koptagel (d. 1931)’in üretim ve yaratım koşulları" at Orient-Institute Istanbul.
08/ 2022 “The Example of the Ottoman Context: Historical Transcriptions of Performative Repertoires across Ethnic Borders and Borders of Time”, Roundtable chair with Ersin Mihci (Introduction to the topic and basic considerations on performative repertoire and its contexts, codified musical parameters, and general starting points for their critical transcription and edition) at 21st Quinquennial Congress of the International Musicological Society, Athens-Greece.
04/ 2022 "Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Müzik (Music and Gender)" at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Istanbul State Conservatory Department of Musicology.
01/2020 Istanbuler Komponistinnen Produktionsbedingungen im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien.
06/2019 Instrumentallehrerinnen in Istanbul um 1900 und ihre Bezüge auf französische und deutsche Musiker*innen, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien.
03/2017 Ein Harmonium im Konak von Leyla (Saz) Hanımefendi, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien.
01/2015 The Biography of a female composer. Nazife Aral-Güran, Orient Institute Istanbul.
04/2014 Turkish Composer Avniye Nazife Aral-Güran's (1921-1993) Life and Representation in Mass Media in the Light of Republican Politics of Music. Istanbul Yeditepe Universität.
03/2014 Musik von Komponistinnen, Österreichisches Kulturforum Istanbul.
11/2013 Produktionsbedingungen komponierender Frauen vor und nach der Gründung der Republik Türkei, Archiv Frau und Musik, Frankfurt am Main.
09/2013 Über die eigene Musik-Komposition: Azab-ı mukaddes, Ort/e des Denkens an der Universität Wien