Biography
Anıl Bilgen is a collector of musical ideas. His musical journey has started with an interest in playing the guitar, continued with playing the bağlama (a traditional turkish string instrument), evolved into getting an education in classical piano and found its home in improvised music. He is a very versatile pianist and improviser who has been collecting musical ideas from a wide variety of sources and assembling them into a tasteful and authentic personal style.
In his early years he developed an interest for the guitar but since the neck of the guitar was too wide for his small hands, he started learning a similar string instrument, baÄŸlama, from his music enthusiast father. By sheer chance he met his current instrument, the piano, at the age of 8. At the age of 11, his instrument led his path to Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory; the most prestigious classical conservatory in Turkey. After successfully completing his bachelor's degree in classical piano at this institution, his unwavering interest in improvised music led him to the renowned Jazz Department of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, one of the most esteemed jazz departments in Europe with a rich history. There, he pursued both his bachelor's and master's degrees in concert jazz piano with outstanding distinction. Subsequently, he rounded out his academic profile by obtaining a bachelor's degree in pedagogy at the same prestigious university.
Among his long-term teachers and mentors have been Ä°rem Bozkurt, Ä°lhan Baran and Roland Batik in classical music; and Olaf Polziehn in jazz music. He has taken lessons from Özgür Aydin, Kamerhan Turan, Oxana Yablonskaya and Ä°dil Biret in classical piano and Aydın Esen, David Hazeltine, Michael Abene, Luke Gillespie, George Colligan in jazz piano.
He has also participated in countless workshops given by very influential artists such as Bill Dobbins, Peter Erskine, Randy Brecker, Aaron Parks, John Hollenbeck, Harold Mabern, Ari Hoenig, Seamus Blake, Peter Bernstein, David Hazeltine etc. His sound at the piano is shaped by the clarity, wide expressive and dynamic range and singing melodies of the western classical music and the dynamic rhythmic and harmonic language of jazz music.