Mehmet Okonsar

David Ezra Okonşar (Turkish pronunciation: [oˈkonʃɑɾ]; born 20 October 1961, Istanbul) is a Turkish-Belgian (double nationality) pianist, composer, conductor, writer and educator. He was previously known as "Mehmet Okonşar".

David Ezra Okonşar was born in Istanbul (Turkey) with the first name "Mehmet" and lived in Paris during his first schooling. He started studying piano at the Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory, with Nimet Karatekin () and Necil Kazim Akses. Thanks to the rich resources the Ankara Conservatory then possessed and the Médiatheque of the Centre Culturel Français d'Ankara, he grew up studying the music of Pierre Boulez, Edgard Varėse, Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Schaeffer, composers who would have a strong influence on him.

After about a year and half studying at the Ankara Conservatory, the family moved to Belgium where he entered the class of at the Brussels Royal Conservatory of Music. Vanden Eynden, who was to entirely re-shape the keyboard technique of Okonşar, is a dedicated follower of the style of .

The keyboard technique of del Pueyo and Vanden Eynden is based on the work of Marie Jaëll, a pupil of Franz Liszt.

A change of Government in Turkey and the political turbulence of 1977 forced the Okonşar family to return to Ankara. Back at the Ankara Conservatory he was put in the class of Gülay Uğurata () for piano and of Nevit Kodallı for musical composition. Okonşar did not attend either class with much assiduity.

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