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
In the backstreets of uppercrust Suadiye, Andrew Finkel seeks out a rare culinary species: a chef who cooks what he likes
By Andrew Finkel. Photographs by Monica Fritz | February 5, 2024
A slow-braised rib of beef wrapped in yufka pastry, served on chilli lime yoghurt with smoked paprika oil I have suffered these long years from a split gastronomic personality. One of my selves seeks out Istanbul restaurants that have a practised understanding of the demands of their genre – the...
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
A feast of antique rugs and textiles in Battersea
By Cornucopia Connoisseur | January 24, 2024
There is something truly wonderful about the the London Antique Rugs and Textile Fair this year. It has slightly fewer exhibitors – 15 in all, which means some friends are missing – but it means their woven treasures can be seen from afar as well as close up, and have...
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
A captivating performance of the Goldberg Variations by Özgür Aydın in memory of Ayşegül Sarıca
By John Shakespeare Dyson | October 31, 2023
The death in March this year of the distinguished Turkish pianist Ayşegül Sarıca, who was trained in Istanbul and Paris, has recently been marked by a performance of Bach's
Goldberg Variations by fellow Turkish pianist Özgür Aydın. The concert, subtitled ‘A Day of Respect for Ayşegül Sarıca’, took place on...
The Turkish Republic's Anniversary
By Andrew Finkel photos by Monica Fritz | October 29, 2023
The Turkish Republic turns 100 today – not just another candle on the cake, but a reliving of a moment of defiance. A nascent state claimed a very different destiny from that envisaged for it by the European powers who had defeated a weary empire at the end of the...
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 | October 7, 2023
On September 29 I attended a concert at the Zorlu Center – one of the 33rd Akbank Jazz Festival events – given by the American trumpet-player Terence Blanchard, the ‘E-Collective’ (his backing group) and a string quartet by the name of the ‘Turtle Island Quartet’. I must congratulate the man...
By Andrew Finkel | September 27, 2023
Metin Münir was a clarion voice in the Turkish press – a champion of journalistic quality and integrity that penetrated so much fog and even more nonsense. As editor-in-chief and founder of a slew of English- and Turkish-language publications, he encouraged a generation of highly professional journalists. The newspaper
Güneş which he...
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
By John Scott | September 14, 2023
Barnaby Rogerson and Orhan Cem Çetin in conversation with Don McCullin at the Pera Museum: Book Launch / Don McCullin / 10 September 2023 from Orhan Cem Çetin on Vimeo.
A sad farewell
By Cornucopia | September 4, 2023
On August 8 friends learnt with great sadness of the loss of Sir Timothy Daunt. Sir Timothy was British Ambassador to Turkey from 1986 to 1992 and together with his wife, Patricia, created a bond of friends and friendships rare in modern British-Turkish relations. Their love and understanding of Turkey...
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
In the first of a new blog series, Cornucopia's restaurant reviewer, Andrew Finkel, tests The Counter in London's Ladbroke Grove
By Andrew Finkel | August 25, 2023
Kemal Demirasal, The Counter's Executive Chef I confess that on my increasingly frequent trips to London, I rarely seek out Turkish food. It seems the wrong ritual, much in the same way I almost never drink rakı at my own Istanbul dinner table. Emigré cuisine can be like émigré politics,...
The Afyonkarahisar Archaeology Museum Opens New Doors
By Mina Turunç | August 7, 2023
After years of construction, the new Afyonkarahisar Archaeological Museum certainly exceeds long-awaited expectations. Founded in 1933, it was originally located in the historic city centre of Afyonkarahisar. Serving as a landmark of the area, it boasted a stunning collection of the region’s rich offerings spanning thousands of years. But eventually...
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Main Featured Turkey
‘Isabel Muñoz: A New Story’ captures the enigma of Göbeklitepe
By Mina Turunç | July 26, 2023
Towering monoliths in contrasting shades of black and white make for an intimidating atmosphere at the Pera Museum’s latest exhibition,
Isabel Muñoz: A New Story. Spanning two floors of the museum, it displays the Spanish photographer’s journey through the ancient ruins of southeastern Turkey, where she photographed, at the museum's suggestion,...
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Exhibitions
By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 25, 2023
It was the end of a hot day, and having arrived in Ortaköy early for the Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara's concert, I sauntered down to the square by the Bosphorus that is dominated by the Greater Mecidiye Mosque – the one that juts out into the waterway close by the...
