# Bilgen Pehlivan – Cultural gerontologist · Cultural and project manager · Speaker

> Bilgen Pehlivan – Cultural gerontologist · Cultural and project manager · Speaker. https://bilgen-karasu.de/en

Music opens doors where language no longer reaches.

I am Bilgen Pehlivan, a cultural gerontologist based in Cologne. I create musical afternoons, tea hours and training sessions for older people, people living with dementia and their families – in German and in Turkish. Before this work I spent 35 years in anaesthesia and intensive care nursing. I know how an afternoon on a ward actually goes.

## Where to find me

- **September 21, 2026, 15:00 – 17:30** – Vergiss mich nicht – Unutma Beni, Seniorenzentrum Theo-Burauen-Haus, Peter-Bauer-Straße 2, 50823 Köln. A bilingual afternoon for World Alzheimer's Day with an expert talk, advice, poetry and a shared singalong concert. (My part: Singalong concert with Erdal Şahin)
- **September 22, 2026, 16:30 – 18:00** – Türkülerimiz, Şarkılarımız, Kulturbunker Köln-Mülheim, Berliner Straße 20, 51063 Köln. A tea hour on migration and memory: singing, telling stories and listening together – over tea and familiar songs. (My part: Concept and facilitation)

## What I bring to you

- **Dementia and music** (Single session or series): Familiar songs reach people living with dementia where words alone no longer do.
- **Culturally sensitive work in later life** (In German and Turkish): Ways to reach older people with a migration background – in their language and with their songs.
- **Tea hours and singing circles** (For groups and neighbourhoods): A sheltered space to arrive, listen, tell stories and belong – over tea and music.
- **Talks and training** (In person or online): Methods from cultural gerontology, taught hands-on – for institutions, associations and professional days.
- **Cultural projects and choir work** (Project accompaniment): From the first idea through planning to delivery – cultural projects with staying power.
- **Consultation for families** (Individually or in a small group): How music can carry everyday life with a relative living with dementia.

## What guides my work

- **Meeting as equals**: I do not bring a programme to be played out. I bring songs and listen to what comes of them. Sometimes a circle sings for two hours, sometimes we talk about one photograph and never reach the third song.
- **The first language lasts longest**: In dementia, the later-learned language fades first. Someone who spoke fluent German at 60 may only understand Turkish at 80. That is exactly where I work.
- **Every biography brings its own music**: Behind every resident stands a whole life of songs. I ask about them and bring them back into the room – sometimes in a language otherwise never heard in the building.

## Who I work with

- **Care homes and senior centres**: Regular musical sessions, culturally sensitive support and training for your teams.
- **Cultural venues, choirs and museums**: Designing and delivering low-barrier cultural formats for an ageing audience.
- **Families and initiatives**: Consultation, discussion circles and musical prompts for everyday life with dementia.
- **Education providers and conferences**: Talks and workshops on cultural gerontology, participation in later life and migration biographies.

I work across Germany and, by arrangement, across Europe. Talks, training and consultation also work online; musical sessions do not – they depend on being in the same room together.

## Contact

- Bilgen Pehlivan, Bugenhagenstraße 37, 51061 Köln
- Phone: 0174 3292003
- Email: kontakt@bilgen-karasu.de
- Make an enquiry: https://bilgen-karasu.de/en/contact