A certain lightness of being…
And so we have arrived at that time of year when the lime trees are in flower, the watermelons rise to new heights of drippy deliciousness and the İKSV Istanbul Music Festival gets under way. A poem...
View ArticleJeung Beum Sohn
The last in the series of Istanbul Recitals for the 2018-2019 season was given by the South Korean pianist Jeung Beum Sohn at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s Seed concert hall on June 14. There has been a...
View ArticlePleasure and pain on the night of the full moon
The Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra gave its second concert of this year’s İKSV Festival in the Lütfi Kırdar Concert Hall on June 17. As with their Spring Concert on March 21, it was the day of a full...
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Norman Stone (1941–2019)
If Norman Stone and Professor Ali Doğramacı, then rector of Bilkent University, had not shared a flash of inspiration during an international conference in Ankara in 1995, the love affair between the...
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A new era for Cornucopia
The latest issue of Cornucopia, No 59, is just out, and it marks the start of a new phase for the magazine, as it goes online. From now on, all issues will be available for subscribers to scroll...
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Happy birthday, HALI
HALI is celebrating its 40th anniversary and the 200th edition of HALI magazine with an exhibition of antique rugs, textiels and tribal art at the Mall Galleries in London, the first time it has held...
View ArticleHALI at 40
This week, HALI magazine marked its 200th issue with a series of celebratory London-based events, including lectures, book launches, an antique carpet and textile art fair, exclusive group access to...
View ArticleRather too easy does it
In the second week of the İKSV Istanbul Music Festival, the Moscow Soloists and viola-player Yuri Bashmet gave a concert at Hagia Eirene on Thursday, June 20. Sitting in the grassy area between this...
View ArticleMr Say takes a bow, and the final notes fade away
Sunday, June 30 was the last day of this year’s İKSV Istanbul Music Festival, and the occasion was marked by a concert in which the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and Fazıl Say performed at the Lütfi...
View ArticleThe best pianist in the world?
There are some concerts – not many, just a few – that leave you with a feeling of euphoria, allowing you to forget everything that makes life a burden for just a few precious hours. The concert by the...
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‘The Gentleman of Istanbul’ and other sly tales
And that, as the great novelist said, is what great art is about. Satirical and political cartoons have been around almost as long as printing – longer if you count the crude caricatures daubed on the...
View ArticleSnarky Puppy and Shake Stew
The New York-based band Snarky Puppy gave a concert at the UNIQ Open-Air Stage on Tuesday July 9. The supporting group was Shake Stew, an Austrian outfit. Whether the music was jazz-rock, or funk, or...
View ArticleCem Mansur and a phenominal philharmonic
The Turkish Youth Philharmonic Orchestra permformed at the Türkiye İş Bankası megatower concert hall in Levent on Sunday, July 21. The orchestra’s main sponsor is the Sabancı Foundation: the need for...
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Cem Mansur and a Philharmonic phenomenon
The Turkish Youth Philharmonic Orchestra permformed at the Türkiye İş Bankası megatower concert hall in Levent on Sunday, July 21. The orchestra’s main sponsor is the Sabancı Foundation: the need for...
View ArticleThe British academic who argued the case of the Turkish Cypriots
Clement Dodd, the veteran British political scientist who wrote about Turkey and Cyprus for over half a century, was fond of saying that he had taken up the study of politics after an initial career...
View ArticleA factory of tears
In a recent BBC radio programme, Istanbul's Factory of Tears, Isabel Finkel examines the story of Arabesk, kitsch, melancholy, popular, sad. Strongly recommended.
View ArticleThe 21st-century ney
Two new albums of original compositions adapted for the ney have been released by musician Drake Mabry. Mabry studied under the famed neyzen and teacher İsmail Hakkı. The ney, a end-blown long reed...
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Highlights of Islamic Sales Week in London
Koranic Instruction, signed and dated Osman Hamdy Bey 1890, is the latest painting by unmistakable Orientalist, pupil of Gerome and founder of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum to come to auction In...
View ArticleValentina Lisitsa opens the new season of Istanbul Recitals
And so the new season gets under way in the Istanbul music scene. Hayırlı olsun (‘May it be productive of good’ – and no broken fingers, cracked clarinets, or wrecked pianos.) 2020 is a real snorter...
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The secret charms of Beyoğlu
Just a day before the long-anticipated opening of the spectacular new Arter in Dolapdere – relocated from its original home on bustling İstiklâl Caddesi – a French-language book, Istanbul Rive Gauche,...
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