Avishai Cohen's not-quite-jazz concert at the Swissôtel in Maçka
By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 7, 2018
The fourth concert I attended during the İKSV Jazz Festival took place at the Sultan Park in the grounds of the Swissôtel in Maçka, above Dolmabahçe Palace, on Tuesday July 3. The performers on this occasion were the double-bassist Avishai Cohen and his group. The concert started well: Mr Cohen...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares
Restoring the stained-glass windows of the Crimean Church in Galata
By Caspar Bigham with photographs by Monica Fritz | July 4, 2018
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To enter Christ Church, hidden in the backstreets surrounding Galata Tower, is to be suddenly transported to England by its neo-Gothic style. Known as the Crimean Memorial Church, or simply the Crimean Church, it was built in commemoration of those who fell in that war – a decision taken by...
Night in an Italian garden – the 25th Istanbul Jazz fest (cont.)
By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 3, 2018
The venue for the third concert I attended during the 25th İKSV İstanbul Jazz Festival was the grounds of the Palazzo di Venezia in Beyoğlu – a building that now does service as the residence of the Italian Ambassador and the Italian Consul-General. (It is not the Consulate itself, as...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz
Çağrı Sertel and his group crack the sky open with their screaming thunderchords
By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 2, 2018
The second concert I attended during the İKSV İstanbul Jazz Festival took place at Salon İKSV (the İKSV HQ performance space) in Şişhane, Beyoğlu, on June 27. The group responsible for the music – but not for the weather outside, which was spectacularly stormy – consisted of pianist Çağrı Sertel...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz
A highlight of the new Cornucopia is Briony Llewellyn’s piece on a great 19th-century panoramist. In Malta she meets the family…
By Briony LLewellyn | June 29, 2018
A family group is gathered together on the imposing bastions of Fort St Elmo at the tip of Valletta, overlooking the Grand Harbour (private collection, Malta). Their straw hats, fashionable on the Spanish island of Menorca, at the western end of the Mediterranean, suggest they are recent arrivals in the...
The 25th Istanbul Jazz Festival pays tribute to the fine musicians who put Turkish jazz on the map, plus some high notes ahead
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 28, 2018
The Opening Concert of the İKSV İstanbul Jazz Festival – sponsored by Garanti Bank – took place at the Zorlu Center on Tuesday (June 26). The theme was ‘Turkish Jazz through the Generations on the 25th Anniversary of the Festival’, and the occasion provided your reviewer – who knew very...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz
Gardens of Delight: enchanting suzanis at the Afridi Gallery
By Roger Williams | June 26, 2018
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Shabaz Afridi hadn’t quite realised the significance of opening his new gallery on the day of the Brexit referendum. The small advertisement he had placed in the
Financial Times appeared following the vote — and as newspapers were being picked over on news broadcasts, the name of the Afridi gallery...
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Islamic Art, Textiles
In the finale to the Istanbul Recitals 2017–18 season, Karim Said spun a mesmerising web of music across time
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 14, 2018
The piano recital by Karim Said at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum (‘The Seed’) in Emirgan, Istanbul, on Tuesday June 12 was preceded by a talk in which the performer described the rationale behind his choice of the works in what was, to be truthful, an extremely unusual programme. Born into...
How four words on the side of a bus triggered Yeşim Cimcoz’s cure for writer’s block
By Yeşim Cimcoz | June 10, 2018
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‘New York Writes Itself.’ Splattered across a city bus, the words roll past me (writes Yeşim Cimcoz, photographed above by Monica Fritz). Maybe that was what started it all. I grab my mobile phone, write in the web address and before me opens a bright yellow website. People all over...
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Literature
A fond farewell to the Istanbul Music Festival
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 8, 2018
Your reviewer’s final foray into the 46th İKSV İstanbul Music Festival was a concert on the platform of Sirkeci Railway Station on Wednesday, June 6. Featuring the Turkish singer Meral Azizoğlu and the Hungarian ‘Gypsy Fire’ ensemble, the music was preceded by a talk given by the novelist and short...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music
Mischa Maisky and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orhcestra at the Aya İrini – the Istanbul Music Festival reviews (part 4)
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 6, 2018
The fourth event your reviewer attended during the 46th İKSV İstanbul Music Festival was a concert by the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and cellist Mischa Maisky at the Aya İrini on Saturday, June 2. This was a feast of ultra-professional string sound – a real string beano, in fact. (Reader...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music
John Shakespeare Dyson was grolloped by his third Istanbul Festival offering: the Filarmonica della Scala and Daniil Trifonov…
By John Shakespeare Dyson | May 29, 2018
Well, now. Your reviewer is still reeling from the pianist’s performance at the concert on Sunday night (Filarmonica della Scala and Daniil Trifonov at the Lütfi Kırdar Concert Hall, May 27) – the third event he attended during the 46th İKSV İstanbul Music Festival. Will he recover in time to...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music
A visual exploration of the lesser known
By Suraya Yusof | May 29, 2018
A stone's throw away from the bustle of Istiklal Caddesi, the Pera Museum nestles among the ivory façades of Tepebaşı. With its dual focus on historical and contemporary art, the museum has embarked on a series of international collaborations since its inauguration 13 years ago. Memorable shows included
Andy Warhol:...
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Contemporary Art, Photography
Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances and Tchaikovsky’s cruel challenge: Cornucopia’s Istanbul Festival reviews continue at Aya İrini
By John Shakespeare Dyson | May 27, 2018
October 4, 8.30–16.00: Bosphorus tour, with Sedat Bornovalı (₺250) October 10, 8.30–16.00: Shores of the Golden Horn, with Mois Gabay (₺290) October 20 8.30–16.00: Nature and history tour: The Belgrade Forest reservoirs and the Atatürk Arboretum, with Mehmet Esendal October 18, 11.00–16.00, and October 31, 10.30–16.00 Three...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music
Yekwon Sunwoo and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra: a heart-warming first night of the Istanbul Festival
By John Shakespeare Dyson | May 24, 2018
The 46th İstanbul Music Festival, organised by the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), kicked off with a concert at the Lütfi Kırdar Concert Hall last night (Wednesday, May 23). Once again I was prompted to reflect on how far we have come since I first attended a classical...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
A new book on the extraordinary story of the great Italian architects of late-Ottoman Istanbul
By Monica Fritz | May 13, 2018
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I was first introduced to Turkey on a road trip with Paolo Girardelli back in 1993. Starting from Rome we drove to Istanbul and took the famous
Truva ferry to Trabzon in quest of abandoned Georgian churches. Together with other excited friends we climbed the hills and trekked through tea...
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Architecture, Books
Didem Pekün's haunting film elegy
By Julie Witford | May 7, 2018
Two art film directors from Turkey were represented at this year’s Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival in the Scottish Borders: Didem Pekün, with
Araf (UK premiere), and Nazlı Dinçel, with
Shape of a Surface.
Araf follows the diary of a ghostly character, Nayia, who returns to Bosnia for the 22nd...
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Film
By John Scott | May 6, 2018
It is with tremendous sadness that we share the news with our readers that Brian McKee, the fine art photographer
completely extraordinary who has worked his magic in the pages for Cornucopia, died on April 19, after collapsing outside his apartment in Üsküdar. Our heartfelt sympathy goes to Ai Kijima,...
By Monica Fritz | May 6, 2018
Are kilims artisan throw rugs or woven art? No one is better placed to answer this than Belkis Balpınar. Former director of the Vakiflar Carpet and Kilim Museum in Istanbul, she has continued for decades to champion the Turkish flatweave and to raise it, literally, to another dimension. Belkıs Balpınar's...
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Contemporary Art, Textiles
Mika Tajima's digital emotional mesmerizes Monica Fritz
By Monica Fritz | April 23, 2018
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Well, who would guess that a visit to the office would be a fun way to spend Children's Day! At weekends, Borusan's offices, housed in the Yusuf Ziya Pasha's Pavillion, morphs into the Bosusan Contemporry Art Gallery, with not a paper clip in sight. The newest exhibitor is the New...
