Jazz pianists Aydın and Cenk Esen mesmerise at the opening of the new Rahşan Düren exhibition, ‘Verwegenheit’
By John Shakespeare Dyson | November 10, 2024
On October 15 I made my way to Beyoğlu for the opening of an exhibition of paintings by the artist Rahşan Düren entitled
Verwegenheit, which I believe means ‘audacity’ or ‘boldness’ in German. I had been told that Aydın Esen, described as the best jazz pianist in the world by...
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Exhibitions, Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz
Zenia Duell admires a magnificent Uzbek recasting of Handel's Tamerlano
By Zenia Duell | November 9, 2024
The curtain rose to reveal an enormous sculpture of a horse’s head, equalling the height of the theatre and encased in a cube of LED-lit scaffolding. This was the opening night of Handel’s
Tamerlano, presented by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, directed by Stefano Poda and performed at...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Opera
Why isn't Cem Mansur's astonishing Turkish Youth Orchestra touring the globe
By John Shakespeare Dyson | August 26, 2024
On July 24 I went to the Atatürk Cultural Centre to see the Turkish Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, the brainchild of conductor Cem Mansur, perform in a programme of works by Hector Berlioz, Sergei Rachmaninov, the young Turkish composer Ege Gür and Sergei Prokofiev. (I thank Mr Mansur for kindly providing...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 29, 2024
This concert, one of the last in the 2024 İKSV Istanbul Music Festival, was also one of those organised within the framework of the ‘Hungarian-Turkish Year of Culture’. Hungarian musicians featured prominently in this year’s events: violinist Kristóf Baráti (a recipient of the Kossuth Prize, his country’s highest cultural award)...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
Raci Pişmişoğlu and group at the Nardis Jazz Club
By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 7, 2024
On Monday May 27 I made my way along Büyük Hendek Caddesi towards the Nardis Jazz Club, picking my through the throng of selfie-taking tourists taking advantage of the unique backdrop of a round, stone-built watchtower, built by the Genoese in the mid-14th century, that has become rather famous. On...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares
A review of the 2024 İKSV Istanbul Music Festival opening concert
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 24, 2024
The 2024 İKSV Istanbul Music Festival – the 52nd in the series – opened with a concert at the Atatürk Cultural Centre on May 21. As usual, the proceedings began with speeches by administrators (including Mr Bülent Eczacıbaşı, Chairperson at the İKSV – the ‘Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts’)...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
By John Shakespeare Dyson | May 13, 2024
On March 22 I went to the Atatürk Cultural Centre to hear the USA-born Turkish pianist Özgür Aydın play Beethoven’s
Piano Concerto No 4 in G major, accompanied by the Istanbul State Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of the Finnish conductor Ari Rasilainen. In the second half, the orchestra played...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
By John Shakespeare Dyson | March 16, 2024
It had been far too long since I had been to the opera in Istanbul, so on February 28 I made a visit to the Atatürk Cultural Centre to attend a performance of Gioachino Rossini’s two-act opera
Maometto Secundo (‘Mehmet II’), first performed in Naples in 1820. Suffice it to...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Musical Shares, - Opera
By John Shakespeare Dyson | February 25, 2024
The last time I heard Randy Esen sing was in July 2019, when she was performing at Uniq Istanbul with three other musicians: her husband Aydın Esen on piano and keyboards, Tommy Campbell on drums and Greg Jones on bass guitar. In my blog on this mega-memorable gig I wrote...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares
Prokofiev and Bruckner at the Atatürk Cultural Centre
By John Shakespeare Dyson | February 1, 2024
The programme for the concert I attended at the Atatürk Cultural Centre in Taksim Square on January 5, 2024 consisted of only two works: Prokofiev’s
Violin Concerto No 1 in D major and Bruckner’s
Symphony No 4. Both were played by the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra under the direction of...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
İlyas Mirzayev’s Cello Concerto and a tribute to the inspirational conductor Saim Akçıl
By John Shakespeare Dyson | January 5, 2024
On December 2 I attended a concert at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall at which the CRR Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Mr Rengim Gökmen, one of Turkey’s leading wielders of the baton. This was one of a series of concerts – entitled
Yüzyılın Yüzleri (‘The Century’s Faces’) –...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
The first of two reviews looking back on autumn's hightlights
By John Shakespeare Dyson | December 23, 2023
On November 1 I made another visit to Istanbul's Notre Dame de Sion French Lycée in Harbiye to attend a concert by the Belgian pianist Éliane Reyes. This was the second of the musical events organised by this school that I have recently attended, the first having been a concert...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
An inspiring concert at Notre Dame de Sion Lycée in Harbiye
By John Shakespeare Dyson | November 16, 2023
A large number of concerts of both Turkish and Western classical music were organised in Istanbul to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of the Republic of Turkey. Bearing in mind the Republican régime’s emphasis on the provision of education for girls, out of all the available possibilities I...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
By John Shakespeare Dyson | October 19, 2023
On October 13 I attended a jazz concert by the Ozan Musluoğlu Quintet, a mixed group of Turkish and American musicians, at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall. It was, of course, Friday the 13th, so I took great care to avoid accidents, chivvying my companion so as not to...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares
By John Shakespeare Dyson | September 27, 2023
On September 4 I attended a concert at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall in Harbiye – one of the events of the 3rd Istanbul International Chamber Music Festival, held at this venue. My ticket, which allowed me to sit in the centre of the auditorium and as close to...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
The Elif Göztepe Quintet, Selen Gülün Blue Band and İmer Demirer Trio put the ‘jazz’ into the Istanbul Jazz Festival
By John Shakespeare Dyson | August 29, 2023
Percussionist Can Kozlu, recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, joined the İmer Demirer Trio in the last concert of the Jazz Festival (photo: Salih Üstundağ) Looking back on the summer that was, on July 19 I attended a concert at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall, the last event...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares
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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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
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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Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares
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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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
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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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
