By Jamie Leptien | November 30, 2018
The 2019 Istanbul Theatre Festival rolls into its final weekend, and for the first time in three years, I didn't miss it all. This past Thursday I joined a full house in the Zorlu PSM Main Theatre for the second of two four-dance performances given by Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT)....
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Music & Performing Arts
By John Shakespeare Dyson | November 23, 2018
The second in the series of Istanbul Recitals for the 2018–19 season was given by the French pianist Alexandre Tharaud at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum in Emirgan on November 13. For this recital the usual concert hall – The Seed – was not available, so the performance had to take...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
By John Shakespeare Dyson | November 11, 2018
The next concert in the current series organised by Talent Unlimited, a British charity that supports young musicians and gives them a platform on which to demonstrate their skills, is to be given in St James’s Church, Piccadilly, London, on Thursday November 29 at 7 pm. On the programme are...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
Autumn colours from the Tekfen Philharmonic and the brilliant Omar Tomasoni
By John Shakespeare Dyson | October 30, 2018
The Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra has recently enlivened our late-October evenings with a series of concerts in Ankara, Mersin and Istanbul entitled
Autumn Classics. The one I attended on Friday took place in the Lütfi Kırdar Concert Hall, Istanbul. The first half was largely devoted to works showcasing the talents of...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
Musical Shares continues with a concert on Heybeliada
By John Shakespeare Dyson | October 27, 2018
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In September I attended a concert in the old Greek seminary on the island of Heybeli (photographed here by Monica Fritz). Heybeli has always been my favourite among the Princes’ Islands, those oases of peace and quiet in the Sea of Marmara that face the beskyscrapered coastline stretching eastwards from...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
The Jussen brothers raise the curtain on a new season of Istanbul Recitals
By John Shakespeare Dyson | October 14, 2018
The first of the Istanbul Recitals for the 2018-2019 season was given by the brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen at The Seed in Emirgan on October 3. It was, first of all, a pleasure to revisit this attractive venue. The wide terrace overlooking the Bosphorus is still there, and – to...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
John Shakespeare Dyson on the dazzling talents lined up for the 2018–2019 Istanbul Recitals at The Seed
By John Shakespeare Dyson | September 16, 2018
Here is a brief overview of the Istanbul Recitals for the 2018–19 season, all of which will be taking place at ‘The Seed’ – the Sakıp Sabancı Museum in Emirgan. It has been said that the Istanbul Recitals are one of the chief sources of
yüz akı (‘whiteness of face’,...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
John Dyson has nothing but praise for Cem Mansur’s outstanding youth orchestra
By John Shakespeare Dyson | September 8, 2018
The 2018-2019 season has started – and it has done so with a wonderfully encouraging experience. The Turkish National Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (Türkiye Gençlik Filarmoni Orkestrası) kicked off the new season in fine style with a concert at the Zorlu Center in Zincirlikuyu, Istanbul, on September 4 – which happened...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Musical Shares
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
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
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
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
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
Javier Perianes brings bravura, moodiness and passion to Chopin, Debussy and de Falla at SMM’s concert hall, the Seed
By John Shakespeare Dyson | April 11, 2018
The Spanish pianist Javier Perianes arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday April 10 hotfoot from a lunchtime recital at the Wigmore Hall in London the previous day and is to be heartily congratulated for demonstrating that the lyricism for which he has been justly praised cannot be compromised by being shaken...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music
The horn maestro Radovan Vlatković returns to Urla for the 2017 UMA masterclasses
By Berrin Torolsan and John Scott | September 14, 2017
The great Croatian horn-player Radovan Vlatković is giving the first of this year’s masterclasses at the Urla Music Academy (UMA). Four days of happy music-making culminate in a concert at 7pm on Saturday evening (September 17). Tickets are free (and donations towards a wonderful musical project most welcome).
Okan Akbaş...
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Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music
A revealing relief, must-try Turkish dishes and the perfect day in Istanbul
By Emma Harper | April 26, 2017
In this blog series, we highlight some of our favourite Turkey-related articles and news titbits that we’ve read over the past month (or two, in this case). A relief uncovered by chance in eastern Anatolia has led archaeologists to revise the history of Harput, reports
Hurriyet Daily News. Subsequent examinations...
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Archaeology, Culinary Arts, Film, Music & Performing Arts, Obituaries
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