Deniz Aktas

Biography & Awards

storytelling through music with passion

The music of Los Angeles-based composer Deniz has appeared in many leading orchestras in Middle-east and Europe. Deniz is the winner of 2021 Score Relief International Film Scoring Competition (1st place), 2015 Sandy Hook Memorial Concert organized by Berklee College of Music composition competition (1st place), and the winner of 2020 inaugural Score Live London Film Scoring Competition Wallace and Gromit Animation Category (2nd Place).

Deniz’s concert music has also received critical acclaim, including his piece “Sandy Hook Immortals” that he wrote in memory of Sandy Hook Elementary School, which was commissioned and premiered by Izmir State Symphony Orchestra. He is the founder of Izmir Brass and Percussion Ensemble which he composed, arranged and conducted.

After beginning studies in orchestral percussion at a very young age and performed in numerous orchestras including Izmir State Opera and Ballet as a full-time percussion player, Deniz later shifted to composing and arranging, working as an arranger, orchestrator and midi-programmer for GRAMMY-award winning film composer Penka Kouneva. In 2020, he graduated Summa Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music and he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Percussion Performing from Dokuz Eylul University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Film Scoring from Berklee College of Music.