Inal Bilsel is a composer, performer, and visual storyteller whose practice spans composition, electronic music production, and audiovisual narrative design. Working across concert, screen, and performance contexts, he develops concept-driven works that explore memory and the poetics of sonic worldbuilding, often situated at the intersection of hauntology, nostalgia and futurism, documentary trace and speculative fiction.
Bilsel’s concept album Paradise Lost (2018, Epic Istanbul) marked a significant milestone in his output and formed the basis of his PhD research project, Creating Small Worlds. His work is widely represented in Cyprus’s cultural landscape, notably through Tales From the Future, a series of immersive audiovisual performances presented at major festivals and venues including Sonar Istanbul, Salon IKSV, Fengaros Reacts, Buffer Fringe, Urban Gorillas, Farma Projekt, and Electric Cicadas. His most recent album, Once Upon a Cloudtop Meadow (2025), returns to orchestral writing through an ambient, cinematic language that engages themes of childhood, memory, and fairy-tale narrative; two tracks from the album received awards at the Intercontinental Music Awards.
In 2007, Bilsel received the grand prize at the Notion International Composition Competition. His orchestral work Nilay’s Dream was performed and recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios, an experience that catalyzed an expanded studio-based practice in which synthesizers, sample libraries, and computer-aided production became central compositional tools. This shift is reflected in his debut album, A New Beginning (2009). Bilsel has composed scores for short films including A Mother’s Sonata and Free Fun (dir. Fehmi Öztürk); The Hunt and Letters From Cyprus (dir. Sholeh Jahrei and Kamil Saldun); and The Delivery and Random Attempts (dir. Doğuş Özokutan and Vasvi Çiftçioğlu).
Educated at Eastern Mediterranean University and Royal Holloway, University of London, Bilsel has taught composition, music theory, multimedia practice, and sound design at institutions including Eastern Mediterranean University, PERA School of Contemporary Dance, and ARUCAD, where he is currently serving as Head of the Sound Arts and Design Department.
