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So many good concerts these days

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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Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares

A rumbustious return

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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Briony Llewellyn (1952–2023)

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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Posted in Obituaries

Friends of Aphrodisias: an invitation

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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Posted in Main Featured Around the World

Two tragic earthquakes

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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There’s nothing like a rollicking evening’s jazz

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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Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares

Philippa Scott (1946–2023)

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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A feast for the senses

The latest LARTA fair is overflowing with fine textiles

By Mina Turunç | January 25, 2023


After a pandemic-induced three-year hiatus, Cornucopia Magazine is back at the London Art and Textile Fair (LARTA), one of the highlights of the winter edition of the London Decorative Fair at Battersea Park. From Tuesday to Sunday this week, LARTA offers an exquisite selection of textiles and antique rugs from...
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Posted in Islamic Art, Textiles

Empires a Podcast

Hosted by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand

By Monica Fritz | January 14, 2023


What better to do on a winter day than listen to this wonderful history podcast hosted by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand on the subject of Empires.  Among the many brilliant historians joining is Cornucopia's Barnaby Rogerson talking about the Ottoman siege of Cyprus and Caroline Finkel, still in the...
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Weaving towers

By Cornucopia Connoisseur | January 13, 2023


Congratulations to the Argentinian designer Cristian Mohaded and his collaborators on winning Wallpaper's best new weaves award 2023 for his amazing installation Weaving Towers exhibited in Bodrm this summer. The work was part of the exhibition Between Humankind and Nature staged by ISTANBUL '74. For more on the show visit...
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Minding their manners

A 16th-century book of Turkish manners

By Cornucopia Connoisseur | December 27, 2022

Reviewed in the next issue of Cornucopia by William Kynan-Wilson is a facsimile of an extraordinary Turkish book of manners, Scenes from the 16th CenturyOttoman Empire I: Facsimile of Türkische Manierenbuch from Kassel University Library, edited by Ömer Erdem and Mehmet Tütüncü (SOTA Publications, €200).  The pages are also available...
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Walls and Beyond

By Thomas Roueché | December 27, 2022


The first artworks were created by our ancestors, touching their palms onto the walls of caves. Later, tapestries and wall hangings came to occupy a similar context. Created often by female artisans, they adorned the home, a medium that speaks directly to the domestic space, that brings art into contact...
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The fun of the fair

By Cornucopia Connoisseur | November 19, 2022


Good to be back at the Istanbul Art and Antique Fair. It's a quieter edition than usual. Timing is not ideal – half-term has seen a minor exodus of the fair's usual clients – but there are a few gems for the eagle-eyed. And intriguing questionmarks. Who is P Giraud,...
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Posted in Fine Art

Celebrating the Republic’s 99th birthday

By Cornucopia | November 3, 2022


On Saturday evening, people gathered to mark the Republic's 99th birthday in Şairler Sofası Park for the traditional 'Fener Alayı', a candle-lit procession down to the Beşiktaş Meydanı. These photographs were taken in Akaretler, Beşiktaş, by the Swedish-German photographer and filmmaker Annette Louise Solakoğlu, whose exhibition Ode to Istanbul is at...
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NARDIS: 20th anniversary London pop-up

This month, the famous Istanbul jazz club comes to London to celebrate in style. Join the party…

By Tony Barrell | October 26, 2022


When I covered the Istanbul Jazz Festival for Cornucopia back in 2004, I paid a visit to a small jazz club called Nardis. I was immediately impressed by the place, and found myself heading back there on a couple of occasions, following a road heading downhill from the Galata Tower....
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Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz

Islamic Sales Autumn 2022

By Cornucopia Connoisseur | October 26, 2022


Islamic Sales week is upon us. The top lot at Sotheby's on October 26 was for Lot 49, an illustrated folio (f.295r.) from The Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, attributed to Mirza 'Ali, Persia, Tabriz, Royal Atelier, circa 1525-35, illustrating Rustam recovering Rakhsh from Afrasiyab's herd. It was expected to fetch £4–6...
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Cubans are made of music

Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Aymée Nuviola in concert at the Akbank Jazz Fest

By John Shakespeare Dyson | October 14, 2022


On October 6 I visited the Zorlu Center in Zincirlikuyu to listen to the Cuban jazz duo pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and singer Aymée Nuviola perform as part of the 32nd Akbank Jazz Festival. As a genre, Cuban jazz was completely unfamiliar to me, and I went to this concert only...
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Melike Koçak: digital dreamer

New wave Turkish photography

By Monica Fritz (portrait and text) | September 21, 2022


When the 25-year-old Francophile philosophy graduate Melike Koçak (portrait above by Monica Fritz) decided to dedicate her life to photography, she was unwittingly joining a new wave of young Istanbul photographers. Her work has already been widely exhibited. This year she was selected to become an ARTPIL 30-Under-30 Woman Photographer...
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Posted in Photography

Sweet music of the French Palace

By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 8, 2022

On Monday 20 June I attended a concert entitled ‘Mare Nostrum’ at what is known in Turkish as Fransız Sarayı (‘French Palace’), the French Consulate and Ambassadorial Residence in Beyoğlu. There is an entrance to this diplomatic complex in Nuru Ziya Sokak (the side street that leaves İstiklal Caddesi opposite...
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Life is but a prelude…

Echoes of Life: Alice Sara Ott's Chopin Preludes

By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 25, 2022


Alice Sara Ott, a half-German, half-Japanese pianist, performed in an event entitled ‘Echoes of Life’ (Yaşamdan Yansımalar) at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall on Thursday, June 16 (part of the Istanbul Music Festival). I describe it as an ‘event’ as it had a visual component as well as an...
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