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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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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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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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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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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When the festival turned inwards: an evening of soul-caressing under the umbrella pines of Emirgan
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 18, 2022
On Monday June 13 I went to a concert of Turkish classical music given as part of this year’s İKSV Music Festival, on the Fıstıklı Teras of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum in Emirgan. The fact that this terrace overlooks the Bosphorus is important in itself, but its significance increased to...
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An exceptionally enjoyable concert at the new Atatürk Cultural Centre – for all its failure to deliver ‘volume’
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 14, 2022
On Saturday June 11 I made my first visit to the newly-opened Türk Telekom Opera Hall in the Atatürk Cultural Centre in Taksim Square. The occasion was a concert by the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra that was part of the Beyoğlu Kültür Yolu Festivali, an event that translates as the...
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A whistlestop tour of the festival by Cornucopia's music critic
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 2, 2022
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The countdown has begun for this year’s İKSV Music Festival, which is to begin on June 6. Classical music enthusiasts may have already read my piece on this subject in the latest edition of
Cornucopia, but a gentle reminder may be necessary. I need to make it clear at the...
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Bliss under the pines: the Istanbul Music Festival is back and our music critic indulged in his first live concert of the year
By John Shakespeare Dyson | August 27, 2021
On Wednesday August 25 I went to Emirgan for a concert on the ‘Fıstıklı Teras’ (Pine Tree Terrace) of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum. It was a balmy summer evening and outside the Atlı Köşk – the main building of the complex, approached via a wide marble stairway – there was...
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By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 28, 2021
A concert by players from the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded on April 8, was streamed online on June 13. Conducted by Cem Mansur, they played works with a retro flavour by Ligeti, Respighi and Stravinsky. I, in my naiveté, believed that it would be possible to access the concert...
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Notes on ‘Secret Wildflower’ and Ayna Veer, the new album from Aydın Esen and friends
By John Shakespeare Dyson | April 22, 2021
It is too long since I heard USA-based Turkish jazz pianist Aydın Esen play live. I can still recall the chromatic crunchiness of his chords. At that concert in Istanbul in July 2019 (described in my blog), I watched and listened in awe as spherical baubles of meaningful melody crystallised...
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By John Shakespeare Dyson | March 21, 2021
The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra is to give a streamed concert on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. The programme is of 20th-century works by Schönberg, Stravinsky and Ligeti, and the guest conductor will be Cem’i Can Deliorman, conductor of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra. I will, God willing, be reviewing the proceedings...
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John Shakespeare Dyson completes his series of articles on the French ‘chanson’
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 27, 2020
With this, the sixth and final instalment in our series of articles on composers of chansons – French art songs – we conclude our exploration of the songs of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924). In this particular blog we will be examining the songs he wrote later in his life – from...
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‘Taste, harmonic sensibility, the love of pure lines, of unexpected and colorful modulations’
By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 11, 2020
With this, the fifth instalment in our series of articles on composers who wrote
chansons – French art songs – we continue our exploration of the songs of Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924), this time covering his middle period. Previous instalments have focused on the songs of Reynaldo Hahn, Debussy’s earlier and...
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Pera’s opera house, star of Istanbul’s cultural scene, survived tempestuous rivalries before going up in smoke on June 5, 1870
By Emre Aracı | June 4, 2020
Exactly 150 years ago, on June 5, 1870, Istanbul’s Italian opera house, the Naum Theatre, burnt to the ground in the great fire of Pera which ravaged a large section of the neighbourhood from Taksim to Galatasaray, including the British Embassy. Fanned by strong winds, the theatre’s ashes were scattered...
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Architecture, Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music
By John Shakespeare Dyson | May 25, 2020
We now come to the last in our series of explorations of the works of composers of
chansons – French art songs. The purpose of the series, which has so far covered Reynaldo Hahn and Achille-Claude Debussy, is to give people something to occupy them while in isolation. This instalment...
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