SATURDAY, MAY 2
Chamber music
Cihat Aşkın: ‘The Four Seasons in Istanbul’
These two concerts feature works on the theme of the seasons. The concert at 16:00 begins with Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and continues with pieces by Debussy, Chaminade, Morricone and Piazzolla.
The concert at 19:00 begins with Schubert’s Trout Quintet and continues with a piece by the virtuoso violinist Cihat Aşkın that celebrates the four seasons in Istanbul. Among the performers (apart from maestro Cihat Aşkın himself and his Aşkın Ensemble) are the composer Sabine Khujaeva, Andjela Bratić (flute), Diana Nocchiero (piano), Roberto Issoglio (piano), Sevil Ulucan (violin), Beste Tıknaz Modiri (viola), Gözde Yaşar (cello) and Onur Özkaya (double bass).
16:00 and 19:00
16:00 concert:
Tickets from Biletinial
Prices: 990TL, 1300TL
19:00 concert:
Tickets from Biletinial
Prices: 880TL, 990TL, 1300TL
SUNDAY, MAY 10
Coffee Concert
Patrick Dheur (piano)
The Belgian pianist Patrick Dheur, who is also a composer, begins his recital (which is subtitled ‘Opus Coffee’) with Chopin’s Scherzo No 2 in B flat minor, Opus 31, and continues with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 8 in C minor, Opus 13 (the so-called ‘Pathétique’). He then plays Chopin’s Ballade No 3 in A flat major, Opus 47, his Nocturne in E flat major, Opus 9 No 2, two of his Études, Opus 10 (No 3 in E major and No 5 in G flat major) and his Polonaise in A flat major, Opus 53 (the ‘Heroic’). The Coffee Concerts at this venue are sponsored by Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi, Turkey’s leaving purveyor of coffee.
11:00
Tickets from Mobilet
Prices: 500.50TL (1st and 2nd floors), 572TL (ground floor)
Students: 314.60TL
TUESDAY, MAY 12 & FRIDAY, MAY 15
Opera
Benjamin Britten’s ‘The Turn of the Screw’
The British composer Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera The Turn of the Screw, written to a libretto by Myfanwy Piper and premiered in 1954, is based on Henry James’s 1898 Gothic horror novella of the same name. It concerns a young, inexperienced governess at a country house who comes to believe that the place is haunted. The singers will be members of the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet company, conducted by Can Okan.
20:00
Tickets from Biletinial
Prices:
Tuesday May 12: 170TL, 240TL, 315TL
Friday May 15: 170TL, 240TL, 315TL, 380TL
THURSDAY, MAY 14
Opera
Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’
Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas, composed in or around 1688, is performed by Juliette Aros as Dido, Benoît Rameau as Aeneas and the Notre Dame de Sion Lycée chorus plus members of ‘Istanbul Baroque’ directed by Ayşe Nil Ülgener.
Henry Purcell (1659-1695) wrote this work, one of the earliest known English operas, to a libretto by Nahum Tate, and it was first performed at a girls’ school in London in 1689. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid, in which Dido, Queen of Carthage, falls in love with the Trojan hero Aeneas, but he abandons her.
20:00
Tickets from Mobilet
Prices: 500.50TL (1st and 2nd floors), 572TL (ground floor)
Students: 314.60TL
Borusan String Quartet & Reto Bieri (clarinet) at ENKA Sanat
