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How the year began
Öktem Aykut Gallery Toygun Özdemir Unforced Errors, Coincidences and Lost Years January 10, 2025 – February 08, 2025 Unforced Errors, Coincidences, and Lost Years marked Toygun Özdemir’s fifth solo...
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The extraordinary career of İlyas Mirzayev
On January 11 2025 I attended a Coffee Concert at the Atatürk Cultural Centre in Taksim. These concerts take place on Saturday mornings in the downstairs foyer – where concertgoers go for...
View ArticleFrom misty Wales to a high Victorian salon in Istanbul
The 2nd Ceren Necipoğlu Istanbul International Harp Festival was held from 14th to 19th January 2025 with the participation of three internationally-acclaimed lady harpists: Sioned Williams, a former...
View ArticleA gem of purest ray serene
On February 18 I made my way to the ENKA compound on Katar Caddesi, the road that descends the hill from Maslak (north of Levent) towards İstinye (on the Bosphorus) in order to attend a concert by the...
View ArticleSeductive sonority
On March 13 I made my way to the Notre Dame de Sion French Lycée in Harbiye for yet another musical event put on by the school. This time, the performer was Denis Pascal, a pianist who is the father...
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The Orient restrained
Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s hold Islaimic and Indian art sales this week. And Sotheby's is also holding its Orientialist Art sale plus an important single-collection sale of watercolours by David...
View ArticleAnatolian Plant Legacy
A new exhibition of botanical art is arriving at Salt Beyoğlu, Istanbul on May 15 and will run to August 10, 2025, with a day of events on May 18. The exhibition (part of Botanical Art Worldwide 2025)...
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Celebrating Anatolia’s astonishing flora
A new exhibition of botanical art is arrived at Salt Beyoğlu, Istanbul on May 15 and will run to August 10, 2025, with a day of events on May 18. The exhibition (part of Botanical Art Worldwide 2025)...
View ArticleBeyond precocious
On April 14 I went to the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall to attend a recital by the young Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev. Born in 2001 and currently resident in Berlin, he first came to prominence...
View ArticlePutting Constantinople on the map: the great Olympia extravaganza
On Boxing Day 1893, 32,251 travellers descended on Constantinople, not Istanbul’s historical peninsula, but rather a colossal replica of the city, constructed under the vast glass-and-iron canopy of...
View ArticleRemembering Ayten Alpman
On April 18 I made my way to the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall for a tribute event commemorating the jazz and pop singer Ayten Alpman (1930-2012). Ms Alpman’s singing career began in the early 1950s,...
View ArticleIstanbul Music Festival Highlights 2025
This year’s İKSV Istanbul Music Festival, the 53rd in the series, is scheduled to run from June 11 to 26. Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İstanbul Kültür Sanat Vakfı or...
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The off!
Wednesday saw the opening concert of the 2025 İKSV Istanbul Music Festival, which this year, the 53rd, has taken the theme, ‘Beyond Borders’. (Photo: the Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra, by Salih...
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Glière in the limelight
Reinhold Glière, a composer who had not previously crossed my radar but proved something of a discovery when the CRR Orchestra, conducted by Carlo Tenan and accompanied the Turkish horn-player Can...
View ArticleShining stars
On June 21 I went to the Süreyya Opera House in Kadıköy for a concert – part of the 2025 İKSV Istanbul Music. Entitled ‘Female Stars of Tomorrow’(Yarının Kadın Yıldızları), it showcased the talents of...
View ArticleStrings in Love and Endless Paths
It was a great privilege to be on the Fıstıklı Terrace of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum in Emirgan once again, this time to listen to a concert of pieces performed on traditional Turkish and Azeri...
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