Recently awarded the Mario Merz Prize (Italy) in music composition of 2022, Köksal holds numerous international awards and fellowships among others Henri Dutilleux Composition Prize (France), ASCAP plus awards(USA), Civitella Ranieri Music Fellowship (Italy-USA), MacDowell Colony Fellowship (USA). Köksal was awarded the Fulbright Academic Research Fellowship and was Visiting Scholar at The University of Chicago (from January 1 to September 30) in 2024.
Köksal’s works have recently been programmed in various contemporary music festivals such as Berliner Festspiele MaerzMusik (Germany), Schleswig Holstein Music Festival (Germany), Warsaw Autumn Festival (Poland), Via Stellae Festival (Spain), Fertile Crescent (USA), Mise-En Music Festival (USA), Timsonia (Romania), KNM Contemporaries (Germany), Acht Brucken Festival(Germany), Forum Neue Musik (Germany), NOW! Festival (Germany), Barca Solare (Italy) among others. The prominent ensembles and performers who have featured her music include Duo Gross/Schouten, Derek Bermel, Agata Igras, Richard Haynes, Horia Dumitrache, Nina Janssen Deinzer, Peyee Chen, Cem Önertürk, Ensemble E-Mex, Penderecki String Quartet, Ensemble Calliopée, Ensemble U, Hezarfen Ensemble, Da Capo Chamber Players, Pacifica Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, Turin Philharmonic Orchestra, Turkish Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Vertix Sonore.
Köksal is an active researcher on contemporary music. Her research interests include the mutualistic relationships between the perceptible stuctures and expression in contemporary music. Köksal presented in various internationally known conferences such as Ligeti Symposium 2017, Helsinki, (EuroMAC-10), 15th The International Congress on Musical Signification Barcelona, International Conference on Music Semiotics in Memory of Raymond Monelle, The University of Edinburgh. Her recent article ‘Repetitive Models in the Music 21st Century: Temporality and Expression’ is going to be published by‘Tempo’ Journal (Cambridge University Press) in January 2025.
Füsun Köksal holds a Ph.D in Music from The University of Chicago, Master degrees in Music Composition and Music Theory from Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. She received her BA from Bikent University.
After serving as Visiting Assistant Professor and lecturer at Middlebury College, University of Pittsburgh, Bilkent University and The University of Chicago, she joined Yaşar University İzmir, where she teaches as Associate Professor. Since 2019 Köksal is the founder and the artistic director of İzmir New Music Days, an international music festival dedicated to contemporary music.