Taner Akyol learned to play the Bağlama, a long-necked lute, early on. Born in 1977 in Bursa, Turkey, the composer was trained as a violinist in his hometown and went to Berlin in 1996, where he studied with Helmut Zapf, Hanspeter Kyburz and Walter Zimmermann. As a Bağlama soloist and composer, Taner Akyol has received multiple prizes. In his works, he often achieves an energetic synthesis between advanced Western and traditional Turkish music that goes beyond superficial allure. He co-founded the intercultural ensemble Cornocopia and, since 2004, directs the international music school ta Musikatelier in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district. At the end of 2012, Taner Akyol’s children’s opera “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves” premiered to critical acclaim at the Komische Oper Berlin.