Hi there! I’m Ulkar

I was born and raised in Baku, Azerbaijan. After high school I moved to Moscow, Russia, to study biology at Moscow State University, majoring in biochemistry. I moved to New York City to do graduate research in developmental neuroscience at Columbia University [here are some of the papers I’ve co-authored]. In 2023, after a short postdoc in neuroscience and some soul-searching, I moved on to metascience (science of science) and economics of science and innovation as a research associate at Dartmouth.

I was trained as a pianist from an early age, and after graduating from a 7-year music school, I continued my education by taking private lessons in piano and harpsichord. Some fateful encounters with Juilliard musicians in New York inspired me to start writing music myself. The first piece I wrote is a piano fugue based on mugham - traditional microtonal modal music of Azerbaijan. The Suite for cello and piano that I wrote next was recorded in June 2021. I completed a string trio in summer 2022. I’m currently working on a cycle “Four elements” where each successive movement reflects symbolism of water, fire, earth and air, inspired by spring equinox celebrations in my home country. My artistic goals include bringing Azerbaijani music to worldwide audiences and exploring emergent musical patterns at the boundaries between tradition and new forms. 

I am a recipient of an Emergent Ventures grant (2022) awarded by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.