Bülent Arel

Istanbul-born composer and sound technician Bülent Arel (1919-1990) studied in Ankara und Paris, taught at the conservatory in Ankara and was first musical director of Radio Ankara from 1951 to 1959. In 1959, the Rockefeller Foundation invited him to participate at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York. In 1962, Arel worked with Edgard Varèse on “Déserts”. Arel also planned and installed the electronic music studio at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he taught from 1961 to 1970. He also founded the study programme for electronic music in Stony Brook at the State University of New York, where he taught from 1971 to 1989. In addition to his electronic music, Arel also composed chamber music, vocal music and symphonic works.