Burak Marlali

Burak Marlali was born in 1980 in Ankara, Turkey, where he began his studies with Tahir Sümer at the State College of Music in 1992. In 1999, he continued his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with Corin Long and Jiri Hudec and with Prof. Bozo Paradzik at the State College of Music in Freiburg. During his studies, Burak Marlali received several awards, including the Eugene Cruft Prize in Manchester and the Gustav Scheck Prize in Freiburg. He won the British Council’s Young Musician of the Year Competition in 1999, the European Music Festival Neerpelt Competition in Belgium and the International Brno Double Bass Competition in the Czech Republic.

He is a regular guest solo bassist with renowned orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the German Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He was a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and an academy member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

As a much sought-after chamber musician, he performs at international festivals with Daniel Barenboim, Martha Argerich, Franz Helmerson, Maximilian Hornung and Andras Schiff, amongst others. From 2007 to 2016, Burak Marlali was principal contrabass with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and from 2014 to 2016 with the Staatskapelle Berlin. He has been a member of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig as principal contrabass since 2017.