The Orchestre National de Metz Grand Est at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall
By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 15, 2023
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On July 6 I attended a concert by the Orchestre National de Metz Grand Est at Istanbul's Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall. The event was in aid of the Enstrüman Destek Fonu (Instrument Support Fund), a campaign organised by the İKSV to buy instruments for students and teachers of music...
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Postcard from Marmara Island
By Monica Fritz | July 8, 2023
Marmara Island, source of Proconnesian marble that covers the walls of Ayasofya, is a surprisingly remote place given that it is quite so close to Istanbul, and so easy to get to. In 3 hours you are immersed in a world of Aegean maquis, Black Sea villagers and the dark green...
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The Erimtan Archeological Museum turns an unflinching eye on the terminal consequences of modernity
By Mina Turunç | July 6, 2023
At first glance,
Where Are We? (
Neredeyiz?) appears out of place in an archaeology museum. The Erimtan Archaeology and Arts Museum’s first two floors are occupied by the permanent collection, laden with ancient objects recovered from the Hittite, Urartu, Assyrian, Achaemenid and Byzantine sites. Delicate ceramic fragments, votive statues and white-washed...
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The Istanbul Jazz Festival in a nutshell...
By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 5, 2023
Summer is upon us, and the 30th İKSV Istanbul Jazz Festival, like some celestial charabanc, is about to rev up and whisk us off to some interesting musical destinations. I need to make it clear at the outset that I have not found much jazz on the programme for this...
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By Monica Fritz | July 1, 2023
Paris has its Centre Pompidou. There’s the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City; in Athens, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC). And now Istanbul, too, has a major contribution from Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano. After a wait of five years, the Istanbul Modern – the...
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Our Istanbul Music Festival reviews conclude with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg – Mozart takes the final bow
By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 1, 2023
The last of the concerts I attended during the 2023 İKSV Istanbul Music Festival was given by the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, conducted by Matthew Halls, at the Atatürk Cultural Centre on June 16. The proceedings began with Mozart’s
Serenade No. 13 in G major, K 525, a work popularly known...
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Peerless musicianship from Anne-Sophie Mutter at the Istanbul Music Festival
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 25, 2023
The 51st İKSV Istanbul Music Festival continues. The third concert I attended was given by Anne-Sophie Mutter and Mutter’s Virtuosi at the Atatürk Cultural Centre (AKM) in Taksim Square on Tuesday, June 13. The programme consisted of baroque works by Vivaldi, JS Bach and Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George, plus...
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John Dyson enjoys the cat’s whiskers of a concert at the Istanbul Festival
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 14, 2023
Festival feast: Matthias Goerne performing with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra at the Reşit Rey Concert Hall, June 9, 2023 (photos: Salih Üstündağ) The second of the events in the 51st İKSV Music Festival that I attended was a concert given by German baritone Matthias Goerne and musicians from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Chamber...
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By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 9, 2023
On Monday, June 5 I attended a concert at the Süreyya Opera House in Kadıköy – one of the events of the 51st İKSV Istanbul Music Festival – in which the Borusan String Quartet were joined by Ms. Lucienne Renaudin Vary, a 24-year-old French trumpeter. Seating myself in the auditorium,...
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‘Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece’: the British Museum revels in the fallout
By Mina Turunç | June 4, 2023
Walking into the British Museum’s latest exhibition,
Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece, one is struck by the incredible scope of the artefacts on display, ranging from modern-day Afghanistan to mainland Greece. Stately busts, glittering gold chalices and much more fill the rooms, offering a glimpse into ancient worlds. These...
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Looking ahead to IKSV's summer feast of classical music
By John Shakespeare Dyson | May 20, 2023
Summer is here again (or so they tell me), and the İKSV Istanbul Music Festival is once again rearing its beautiful head. Here is a brief guide to what’s on offer. The proceedings kick off with an Opening Concert at the Atatürk Cultural Centre on Thursday 1st June at 20:00...
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By John Shakespeare Dyson | May 10, 2023
On April 27 I attended a concert of chamber music at the Naval Museum in Beşiktaş. This event was part of a music festival organised by an outfit that goes by the name of ‘Opus Amadeus’ in conjunction with Artisan Organizasyon. I believe they hold a festival of chamber music...
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A sad goodbye to one of the finest art historians of his generation
By Cornucopia | May 2, 2023
We are deeply saddened to receive news of Bob Ousterhout's passing on April 23, 2023. Bob was quite simply one of the finest writers and art historians that Cornucopia has ever had the privilege to publish and his loss will be felt immensely by all our readers. This obituary was...
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By John Shakespeare Dyson | April 30, 2023
On Thursday, April 20, I attended another concert at the Zorlu Center in Zincirlikuyu; this time, the works being performed were
La tragédie de Salomé by the French composer Florent Schmitt, and Anton Bruckner’s
Fourth Symphony, the ‘Romantic’. The orchestra was once again the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, and on this...
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Brahms and Beethoven
By John Shakespeare Dyson | April 21, 2023
On Thursday April 13 I attended a concert at the Zorlu Center, Zincirlikuyu in which the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of the Italian conductor Carlo Tenan, accompanied Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin in Brahms’s Piano Concerto No 1. The second half consisted of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, the
Pastoral....
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By Caroline and Andrew Finkel | March 26, 2023
We write with great sadness of the sudden death of Briony Llewellyn, a dear friend to many and a notable contributor to Cornucopia. Briony's lifelong work on British artists in the Near and Middle East was an all-consuming passion, and her tireless scholarship made her pre-eminent in the field. Like...
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Marvellous new discoveries revealed
By John Scott | March 11, 2023
The Aphrodisias 2022 campaign un-earthed this marble portrait of a beautiful young priestess with an elaborate plaited hairstyle – buried in mysterious circumstances by the construction of a Dark-Age structure on top of it. To learn the story of this wonderful find, join Prof RRR Smith in London for the...
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By Cornucopia | February 7, 2023
The horror of the two earthquakes is beyond words. How to help? Many friends, including the British Institute in Ankara have recommended the DEC TURKEY-SYRIA EARTHQUAKE APPEAL (Disasters Emergency Committee). The first £5,000,000 in donations they receive are being matched by the UK government: https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/turkey-syria-earthquake-appeal In Turkey, two NGOs that have bee...
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The sheer artistry of Sibel Köse and friends throws doom-and-gloom to the winds
By John Shakespeare Dyson | January 30, 2023
Last Saturday I went to the Nardis Jazz Club in Galata to listen to the Turkish jazz singer Sibel Köse and her quartet. Having fortified ourselves with scrumptuous cakes at Şirin Fırın, a highly-recommended patisserie in nearby Büyük Hendek Caddesi, my companion and I wended our way through the crowds...
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By Lindsay Fulcher | January 30, 2023
It was with great sadness that I heard the news that my beautiful, intelligent, rebellious friend Philippa Scott had died. Her delicate Pre-Raphaelite looks belied a determined, fearless and independent spirit that took her on dangerously exotic journeys to the Near East and beyond. Born in India, her early childhood...
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