ERKMEN, Yiğit Mert (b. 1995, İzmir) is a composer and music educator whose work explores the expressive and structural possibilities of contemporary music.

He began his musical education at Işılay Saygın Fine Arts High School (2009–2013), where he received piano training. In 2014, he was admitted to the Department of Composition and Orchestral Conducting at Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory, where he studied composition with Prof. Dr. Hatıra Ahmedli Cafer, Dr. Turgay Erdener, and Prof. Dr. Metin Munzur, and piano with Prof. Güherdal Çakırsoy. He graduated in 2021 with High Honors.

Throughout his undergraduate studies, he attended masterclasses and seminars by prominent composers such as Yiğit Aydın, Oğuzhan Balcı, Evrim Demirel, Emre Sihan Kaleli, Paul Patterson, Onur Türkmen, Hasan Uçarsu, and Tolga Yayalar.

During the 2018–2019 academic year, he studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest through the Erasmus program, where he pursued orchestral conducting with Prof. Zsolt Serei and composition with Prof. Gyula Fekete.

In 2021, he began his master’s studies in the Composition Program at the Dokuz Eylül University Institute of Fine Arts, Department of Music. He conducted his academic work initially under Prof. Ebru Güner Canbey and later under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Onur Nurcan, completing the program in 2025 with High Honors.

Between 2022 and 2024, he served as a visiting lecturer at Dokuz Eylül University State Conservatory and Aydın Adnan Menderes University State Conservatory, where he taught solfège, dictation, music theory, and instrumental knowledge. He currently continues his academic career at Dokuz Eylül University State Conservatory, teaching solfège, dictation, music theory, and instrumental studies.

In his artistic and academic pursuits, Erkmen continues to explore the expressive and structural dimensions of contemporary music, focusing on composition and orchestral conducting.