Cem Tolunay Gürakar

Cem Gürakar (name at the birth, Cem Tolunay Gürakar) was born in 1996 in Mersin, Turkey. He started playing various instruments, including the piano, at the age of 5. At 13, he began studying the double bass with Timur Bayramoglu and continued his education at Mersin University's State Conservatory with Irmak Sabuncu, where he also completed his undergraduate studies. In 2022, he was accepted into Denton Roberts' class at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where he also continued his studies with Ernst Weissensteiner and Timothy Dunin. He won first prize in the New York International Classical Music Competition in USA and second prize in the Agimus Padova International Music Competition in Italy. He has held section leader and tutti positions in the double bass sections of orchestras such as the Turkish National Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, the IEMA Ensemble Modern, the Orchestre National des Jeunes du Luxembourg and the Bregenz Festival Orchestra Academy. He has performed under the batons of conductors like Ingo Metzmacher, Milan Turković, Beat Furrer, Franz Jochum, Cem Mansur, Bertrand de Billy, Rengim Gökmen, Jaime Wolfson and Daniel Cohen. In addition, he has participated in masterclasses and workshops with renowned doublebassists such as Dorin Marc, Božo Paradžik, Renaud Garcia-Fons, Ödön Rácz, Fora Baltacigil, Paul Cannon and many others. He is currently studying at the PPCM (Performance Practice in Contemporary Music) of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz under the vision of Klangforum Wien.