Kaan Bulak

Composer and pianist Kaan Bulak writes music, performs on stage and creates sonic experiences.

Composer, pianist and sound artist Kaan Bulak was born in Aachen in 1991 and spent his childhood in Istanbul, where he was introduced to the piano at the age of 5. During his school years in Stuttgart, he was a piano student of Andrej Jussow. After some excursions into mathematics and economics in Cologne, Bulak found his way to sound production and composition. First at SAE Berlin, then at the Berlin University of the Arts with mentors Jean-Boris Szymczak at Funkhaus Berlin for sound production and Martin Supper for electroacoustic composition. Between 2018 and 2020, Bulak was one of the #bebeethoven composer fellows of the Beethoven anniversary. During this time, he researched sound concepts for the expansion of acoustic instruments, developed the 360° loudspeaker “Lynch” together with Martion Audiosysteme and recorded numerous works and experiments as an artist-in-residence at the ZKM Karlsruhe. As an artist-in-residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris from 2023-2024, he worked on his second piano concerto, his first opera, and various other works.

Istanbul and Berlin are the cities that have influenced him the most and inspired his own way of composing beyond geographical and cultural borders. In a similar way, the boundaries between acoustic and electronic instruments are blurred in his creations. This can be experienced most clearly in the concerts of his own ensemble. Strings, piano and electronics merge with the help of custom 360° loudspeakers and extended techniques to activate the subconscious. Bulak’s music and improvisations have been performed on stages such as the Zurich Opera House, Berlin Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Verbier Festival, LSO St. Luke’s London, Şerefiye Sarnıcı Istanbul, Philharmonie Dortmund, Konzerthaus Berlin, Schloss Elmau, ZKM Karlsruhe and Sónar Istanbul. On stage and in the studio, Bulak has collaborated with artists from a wide spectrum such as Sarah Aristidou, Robert Lippok, Cosmin TRG, Anastasia Kobekina, Luise Enzian, Taner Akyol Trio, and many more. Bulak’s first cello sonata found its way to music academies and is selected internationally as an exam piece.  In 2017 the audiovisual art label Feral Note was founded by Bulak to extend the process of composing and shaping music up to its release. 

Bulak lives in Berlin and runs the audiovisual art label Feral Note, which he founded, with its own recording studio and music salon. He passes on his production experience on sound to students in regular workshops at the NYU Berlin Clive Davis Institute.