Centuries-old bazaars next to modern skyscrapers, prayer chants against the roar of a 16-million-strong metropolis, music by Johann Sebastian Bach next to Anatolian folklore: Istanbul is a vibrant place of exciting contrasts. In the coming festival summer, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (SHMF) is dedicating a special focus to the city on the Bosporus.
With its rich history, Istanbul has been a melting pot of cultures for thousands of years. The city of millions brings together a variety of ethnic groups, religions and traditions, whose influences are reflected in the city’s vibrant music scene.
It is not only Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish or Jewish sounds that characterise Istanbul’s musical life – since the re-establishment of the Turkish Republic in the 20th century, a European-influenced classical music scene has also flourished in the city, driven forward by western-oriented composers such as Ahmed Adnan Saygun and Ulvi Cemal Erkin. Conversely, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven also incorporated music from the Ottoman Empire into their works.
Starting with Kassia, the first known female composer of the 9th century from what was then Constantinople, through Turkish folklore to composers of the 20th and 21st centuries such as Ferit Tüzün and Fazıl Say, the SHMF will be highlighting the musical diversity of Istanbul in the 2025 festival summer. Typical instruments of Turkish art music will also be heard, including the ney, a flute without a mouthpiece, or the kanun, a trapezoidal box zither. The program includes symphony concerts, chamber music as well as song and piano evenings that focus on the dialogue between the different cultures.
