Murat Coşkun is an internationally renowned percussionist who mediates between musical worlds and has found a clear definition for his artistic practice: Connecting Cultures. Behind this lies a simple yet very central concern: to be open to musical connections between diverse cultures.
As a musical cross-border artist, he successfully engages in styles as diverse as world music, classical, early and new music, and jazz (with Annette Maye, Giora Feidman, Hille Perl, David Friedman, Gianluigi Trovesi, Glen Velez, and Zohar Fresco, among others). His concerts—both as a soloist and with other projects—have taken him throughout Western and Eastern Europe, the USA, Mongolia, Mexico, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Sudan, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel. As an outstanding exponent of his field, he enriches various projects and ensembles as a soloist with his frame drums, such as the National Chinese Orchestra Taipei, Metropol Orchestra (Hilversum), FBO (Freiburg Baroque Orchestra), NDR Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra Austria, WDR Radio Orchestra, Brandenburg State Orchestra) and has been leading the international “Frame Drum Orchestra” since 2022.
Murat Coşkun has participated in numerous CD recordings (including four solo releases), as well as television and radio productions – with and about him (ARD, SWR, MDR, DLF, SFR, etc.). His compositions range from solo percussion to pieces for string orchestra and frame drums (premiere of the composition “Cheel Chae – Layers of Dreams” in 2025). He also writes music for dance and theater productions. He collaborates with various companies on the development of new frame drums and has released several signature instruments (including Schlagwerk Percussion and Zelazek Drums).
Murat Coşkun has headed the World Percussion department at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg in Mannheim since 2015 and regularly teaches as a guest lecturer at various music academies and institutions (including Freiburg, Bremen, Berlin, Basel, Karlsruhe, Hanover, Zurich, Denmark, Austria, Spain, the USA, Turkey, Korea, and Iran). Since January 2018, he has been leading the multi-year frame drum course he founded at the Tamburi Mundi Frame Drum Academy in Freiburg (Breisgau). As an author and teacher, he developed the world’s first frame drum instructional DVD, Finger Dance. His current online tutorials are “RhythmTraining body – voice – drum” and “my world of frame drumming (1+2).”
Murat Coşkun is the founder and artistic director of the world’s most important frame drum festival, Tamburi Mundi, in Freiburg. He organized the first international percussion festival in Iranian history and has collaborated with opera houses such as the Royal Opera House in Muscat and the St. Pölten Festival Hall (including “Artist in Residence” in 2012).
Murat Coşkun won the SWR World Music Prize in 1998, was awarded the ZMF Prize in 2004, and received the Freiburg Culture Prize in 2024.
