Born in 1985 in Isparta, continued his early piano studies in İzmir with Turgut Aldemir and Zafer Çebi. Under bachelor degree at Istanbul Bilgi University Music Department studied theory and composition with Selen Gülün and Onur Türkmen, and jazz piano with Gülün and Tuna Ötenel. In 2006-2007 studied composition with Wojciech Widlak and Wojciech Zych at the Academy of Music “Krzysztof Penderecki” in Cracow, Poland. Worked as a research assistant at Istanbul Bilgi University Music Department carrying out the assistance of Michael Ellison for two years. In 2009, with the scholarship of Bilgi, went to Italy for his post-graduate degree in composition at Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi” di Milano under guidance of Alessandro Solbiati. After returning to Turkey, started to work as a lecturer at Bilgi Music and as the pianist – music director of Dostlar Theatre. He published three albums, Çınar, Güneş ve Bir Deli (2017), Yok mu, Var (2018) and Live at Yeldeğirmeni Sanat (2021) under the name Yürüyen Merdiven, a drums-piano duo formed together with Mustafa Kemal Emirel. Completed his doctoral studies in composition at Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts under guidance of Özkan Manav in 2020. Being a member of BESOM, working at Bilgi Music as a faculty member and continuing his production in the field of contemporary acoustic music, Özatalay gets up on stage with his band Yürüyen Merdiven and with the theatre play Yaşamaya Dair.