Gürer Aykal

Gürer Aykal — Biography

Born on 22 May 1942 in the Çifteler district of Eskişehir, Gürer Aykal first learned music from his father, a music teacher, then entered the Ankara State Conservatory in 1953, completing violin study before graduating in composition under Adnan Saygun. He trained further at the Guildhall School and the Royal Academy in London, and at Santa Cecilia in Rome, working with conductors such as André Previn and George Hurst before returning to Turkey in 1973. Named a State Artist in 1981, he became chief conductor of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra from 1988. He spent about sixteen years directing orchestras in Texas, at the Lubbock and El Paso symphonies. In 1999 he founded the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, serving as its music director and principal conductor until 2009, while also founding and developing the Antalya orchestra between 2000 and 2004. He was appointed professor at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 2006 and continues to teach at Bilkent University. The inaugural Eskişehir International Gürer Aykal Conducting Competition, named for him, was held in 2026, with the top prize going to a conductor from Taiwan.