Pianist Meral Guneyman made her orchestral debut in the United States under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas as first prize winner of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra's Young Artist's Competition. She was promptly reengaged by Tilson Thomas to play the Schumann Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Her Carnegie Hall debut was as winner of the East & West Artists' International Competition. After winning the prestigious William Kapell International Competition at the University of Maryland she performed with Leon Fleischer and the Baltimore Symphony. Her accolades further include winner of the Juilliard School's Chopin Concerto Competition and Naumburg Competition finalist, which, once again, brought her to Carnegie Hall.

Meral's appearances have taken her to the Cervantes and Monterrey Festivals in Mexico, the International Istanbul Festival, the American Music Festival at the National Gallery in Washington D.C., the Frederick Chopin Festival and the Ljubliana Festival in Slovenia. She has performed with major orchestras around the world; among them: the Brussels Philharmonic, the Sarajevo Philharmonic in Europe, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Ankara and the State Symphony Orchestra of Istanbul, Turkey, the Melbourne Orchestra of Victoria, Australia, the Juilliard Symphony, the Portland Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony in the United States. She has performed in major concert Halls in Germany, Italy, Austria, Canada, France, Austria, Serbia(including a performance for the Serbian Royal Family), Croatia, Bosnia, Belgium, England and Japan, as well as many major cities in the U.S.

As an academician and pedagogue she has given Master Classes, Informances and concerts at Harvard, M.I.T., Purchase. Georgetown, Marshall and Princeton and New York Universities, the Bosphorus University (Istanbul) and many other Music Conservatories and Institutions. Meral is always interested and dedicated in advancing Contemporary Music, having given Premieres of works by Justin Dello Joio, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Dick Hyman, Pablo Ziegler and others. She is a multi faceted classical musician, at ease with the pop and jazz genres and is an avid transcriber, arranger and improviser. Her ability to move instantaneously and convincingly between the classical and jazz genres is a rarity. Her recordings, regardless of the genre, have been received with universal acclaim.

Her recording of the Frank Bridge sonata was heralded as among the five best of the year by Fanfare Magazine. She is listed in "Who's Who of American Women," and was singled out by David Dubal in "the Art of the Piano" for her recording of the Bridge Sonata. Guneyman released two albums with jazz legend Dick Hyman. Her first album with Hyman, -“Playful Virtuosity” -contended for a 2008 Grammy Award. The second -Danzas Tropicales”-was an iTunes Editor’s Choice “New&Noteworthy” selection for eight consectutive weeks. In Fall 2019, she released her second album of personally arranged holiday favorites, “Christmas Memories” which became an Amazon best seller. Her latest album “Excursions:Live from the National Gallery” as part of the Gallery’s American Music Festival Series, was released during the in January 2021. Beyond albums, Guneyman wrote the soundtrack for the 2018 ballet-themed short film, “Faire le Pas” (Take the step) screened at Universal Studios, Hollywood.

As a Steinway Artist, Guneyman has recorded prolifically-including her Bowie transcriptions-for the high resolution Spirio catalog of Steinway&Sons.

In her capacity as performer and educator, throughout her life, Meral has worked to raise money for many charity organizations, among them: Save the Children Fund, Kizilay(Red Cross of Turkey), the Muscular Dystrophy Association, UNA-NY, UNA-USA, HERO (Help Educate at Risk Orphans) campaign, combating HIV/AIDS pandemics, Hope loves Company, an organization to help the families and victims of ALS, and Americans for Cures, for stem cell research.

Ms. Guneyman is an Early Childhood Music Education specialist and a two time winner of the Laura Conover Pedagogy Award in New York City.

Meral’s Bowie Transcriptions are published on the worldwide digital platform “Sheetmusicplus”.