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Bulent ArelComposer of contemporary classical and electronic music from Turkey
Date of Birth: 23.04.1919
Country:  Turkey |
Content:
- Bülent Arel: A Pioneer of Electronic Music
- Career in Turkey
- Rockefeller Foundation Grant
- Collaboration with Edgard Varèse
- Yale University and Stony Brook University
- Compositions and Innovations
- Notable Students
- Later Life and Legacy
Bülent Arel: A Pioneer of Electronic Music
Early Life and EducationBülent Arel was born on April 23, 1919, in Istanbul, Turkey. He studied composition at the Ankara Conservatory and sound engineering in Paris.
Career in Turkey
Arel taught at the Ankara Conservatory and served as the first music director of Radio Ankara from 1951 to 1959.
Rockefeller Foundation Grant
In 1959, the Rockefeller Foundation invited Arel to work on the "Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center" album, released in 1961.
Collaboration with Edgard Varèse
In 1962, Arel collaborated with Edgard Varèse on the electronic realization of Varèse's "Déserts."
Yale University and Stony Brook University
Arel designed and built the Electronic Music Studio at Yale University, where he taught from 1961 to 1970. In 1971, he moved to the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he established the Electronic Music Program and taught until his retirement in 1989.
Compositions and Innovations
Alongside his electronic works, Arel composed chamber, vocal, and symphonic pieces, including a series commissioned by the Mimi Garrard Dance Theater. He invented the "tape-splicing dispenser" and other magnetic tape processing devices, and pioneered the use of loops in music.
Notable Students
Arel's notable students include Conrad Cummings, Joël-François Durand, and Frederick Bianchi.
Later Life and Legacy
Arel lived in East Setauket, New York, in his later years. He died of multiple myeloma on November 24, 1990, in Stony Brook, New York. In addition to his groundbreaking work in electronic music, Arel also excelled as a painter and sculptor, with some of his artworks now housed in the Turkish National Gallery.
