The Istanbul International ‘Opus Amadeus’ Chamber Music Festival , now in its 14th year, is the brainchild of Mehmet Mestçi and his Artisan Organizasyon. The seven events in this year’s festival are described in an effervescent style on their website. Venues range from churches in Büyükdere, Moda and Beyoğlu to a dramatic spot beneath the stern of a 15th-century barge in the Maritime Museum in Beşiktaş and the Theatre Hall of the AKM in Taksim. Tickets from Biletix or Biletinial.
These two events caught the eye of our music critic, JSD.
MAY 10
String quartets
Saygun String Quartet
This recital of ‘Quartet Masterpieces from Budapest to Istanbul’ (Budapeşte’den İstanbul’a Quartet Başyapıtları) is given by the Saygun Quartet from Hungary – Márta Ábrahám and Aliz Gál (violins), Mevsim Engin (viola) and Barnabás Baranyai (cello). (Engin, the Turkish viola-player, is currently studying in Hungary.) The first item on their programme is Mozart’s String Quartet No 22 in B flat major, K 589, a late work; the programme notes tell us that it features ‘a perfect balance of serenity and mastery’. They then play Ahmed Adnan Saygun’s String Quartet No 4, Opus 78, a piece written towards the end of his life that ‘masterfully blends local roots with universal expression’. Lastly, they perform Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No 2 in A minor, Opus 13, said to be ‘distinguished by its dreamlike, passionate and lyrical narrative’.
Atatürk Cultural Centre (Atatürk Kültür Merkezi/AKM) Theatre Hall (Tiyatro Salonu), Taksim, Istanbul
20:30
Tickets from Biletix or from Biletinial
Prices: 800TL, 1000TL, 1250TL
Students: 400TL, 500TL, 625TL
Event website
Festival website
SUNDAY, MAY 17
Saxophone quartets
Dokwerk Saxophone Quartet
The Dokwerk Saxophone Quartet, a Dutch ensemble that has won a large number of European chamber music competitions, consists of Lisa Schreiber (soprano saxophone), Jen-Hong Wu (alto saxophone), Ileana Termini (tenor saxophone) and Pedro Silva (baritone saxophone). In this concert, subtitled ‘A Four-Headed Dragon’, they play Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K 546, in an arrangement by Remco Jak; an arrangement by the Ebonit Saxophone Quartet of Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture, Opus 26 – a work, written during the composer’s walking tour of Scotland in 1829, that is sometimes known as ‘Fingal’s Cave’; the 4th movement of Philip Glass’s 1995 Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and an arrangement by the Dokwerk Saxophone Quartet of the 3rd movement of his 1985 String Quartet No 3, subtitled ‘Mishima’; Negarehaye Rangin by the Holland-based Iranian composer Ramin Amin Tafreshi (1992-); an arrangement of Saint-Saëns’s 1874 Danse Macabre; and Patchwork by the French composer and saxophonist Philippe Geiss (1961-).
Saint Antoine Church (Sent Antuan Kilisesi), İstiklal Cad. No 171, Beyoğlu. Tel: +90 212 244 09 35
20:30
Tickets from Biletix
Price: 1250TL
Students: 700TL
The Opus Amadeus Organ Festival takes place in the autumn. Watch this space.
