Taner Akyol

Taner Akyol is a Lecturer for Bağlama at the Berlin University of the Arts, where he has taught since 2016. A virtuoso of the Turkish long-necked lute (bağlama), he integrates Ottoman musical traditions with Western avant-garde composition techniques.

• Born: 1977 in Bursa, Turkey
• Education: Bursa Music High School (violin), Hanns Eisler Academy of Music (composition under Prof. Hanspeter Kyburz), Berlin University of the Arts (master studies under Prof. Walter Zimmermann)

Research & Practice focuses on cross-cultural musical synthesis, demonstrated through commissioned works for festivals like 'Istanbul in Berlin' and his children's opera Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves (Komische Oper Berlin, 2012). His compositions feature melismatic melodies and oriental heterophony adapted for orchestral scores.

Awards include:

• 1998 musica vitale - Music Prize of Cultures in Berlin
• 1999 Hanns Eisler Prize
• 2007 global music competition

Professional Activities include managing the 'ta Musikatelier' in Berlin-Kreuzberg since 2004 and releasing albums with enja records, such as Birds of Passage and Dance to the Sun. He has served on competition juries since 2002, including 'Jugend musiziert'.