Orchestras

Prof. Gürer Aykal

Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra General Music Director and Principal Conductor

Born in the Anatolian city of Eskişehir, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra General Musical Director and Resident Conductor Gürer Aykal began his music education at the Ankara State Conservatorium. He graduated from the Violin Department in 1963 as a student of Necdet Remzi Atak and from the Composition Department in 1969 as a protégé of the legendary Turkish composer Adnan Saygun.

That same year, Aykal won a government scholarship and traveled to England to study under such leading conductors as André Previn and George Hurst in London's Guildhall School of Music. In 1972, he finished at the top of his classes in the Advanced Conducting Departments of both the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. Subsequently in Italy, Aykal received the Medal for Conducting from the Academia Chigiana and later completed his education at the Santa Cecilia Academy by serving as an assistant to Franco Ferrara. Simultaneously, at Adnan Saygun's prompting, Aykal was also educated in Gregorian choir music and Renaissance polyphonic music under Domenico Bartolucci at the Pontificio Instituto di Musica Sacra in Milan.

Back in Ankara, Aykal was appointed as the Presidential Symphony Orchestra's Resident Conductor in 1975. In addition, he also served for some time as the General Director of the State Opera and Ballet. He, along with Suna Kan, also founded the Ankara Chamber Orchestra and conducted hundreds of concerts both in Turkey and overseas. Over the years, Aykal has performed many concerts with the leading orchestras of Europe, as well as supervised the South America and Caribbean tours of the British Chamber Orchestra and conducted the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra.

Aykal is also a teacher of music and has served as professor of orchestra conducting in several universities both in Turkey and overseas. In the United States, Aykal has taught advanced orchestra conducting at Indiana University at Bloomington, Texas Tech and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Currently, Aykal is serving as Professor of Conducting at Istanbul’s Bilkent University.

In 1981, Maestro Aykal received the prestigious title of “State Artist” in his homeland because of his achievements and services in the international arena. He has recorded CDs with several leading music groups such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, North German Radio (NDR), the Ankara Chamber Orchestra, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra and the El Paso Symphony Orchestra, performing works of great composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Smetana, Ravel, Erkin and Saygun.

During his 16 years as a conductor and general musical director in the United States, Aykal served as the Resident Conductor and General Musical Director of the El Paso Texas Symphony Orchestra between the years of 1991 and 2003 and also received the title of “Professor Emeritus” from UTEP. In Turkey, Aykal accepted the challenge of founding and developing the Antalya State Symphony Orchestra between the years 2000 to 2004. Currently, as the General Musical Director and Resident Conductor, Aykal pours his energy into building the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra into one of the world’s premier orchestras.