Sascha Goetzel and Zeynep Hamedi photographed after the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic concert photo credit Ozge Balkan |
Giuseppe Donizetti |
But the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra is quite young, being founded in 1999 but based on the Borusan Chamber Orchestra which was founded in 1993. The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra's founding music director was the Turkish conductor Gürer Aykal. Since 2009 the orchestra's music director has been the Austrian conductor Sascha Goetzel. The orchestra is nearly all Turkish (only four non-Turks generally perform) and most are trained in Turkish conservatoires. It is a young orchestra, with an average age of around 30 and the youngest is currently 20. When I heard them perform, I noted that at least 50 percent of the players on the platform were women (including a woman trombone player).
The orchestra plays a regular season of concerts in Istanbul, performing in the conference centre on the European side as well as performing on the Asian side. Though the orchestra has toured, tours have in the past generally been confined to Turkey and to neighbouring countries, but in 2010 they were in Salzburg and came to greater attention in 2014 when Sascha Goetzel led the orchestra in its first appearance at the BBC Proms.
Sascha Goetzel and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra recording their third CD |
Rather remarkably, the orchestra is wholly private, being owned and funded by the Borusan Foundation which was created by Asım Kocabıyık, founder of Borusan Holdings which is Turkey's largest steel conglomerate. The Borusan Foundation is currently headed by Ahmet Kocabıyık, the chair of Borusan Holdings whilst Borusan Culture and Arts (which runs the orchestra and the contemporary art programme) is headed by Kocabıyık's sister Zeynep Hamedi.
Before the orchestra's performance in Istanbul which I attended, we were lucky enough to have a meeting with Zeynep Hamedi to talk about the orchestra and the contemporary art programme. She explained that the foundation created by her father focusses mainly on educational projects. Their family has always undertaken cultural sponsorship, but this was originally done on an ad hoc basis with organisations asking for money. Zeynep Hamedi's brother Ahmet Kocabıyık decided to regularise things and he initiated the idea for being pro-active in sponsoring classical music by creating an orchestra, using the existing foundation as an umbrella organisation for it. The chamber orchestra was founded in 1993, with their own cultural centre and the full orchestra coming later.
Choosing not to go into the family business (Zeynep Hamedi admits that she tried but did not last very long), she was asked to become chair of Borusan Culture and Arts. The family's support extends to the visual arts, and their father supported Turkish artists and this has continued with Zeynep Hamedi and her brother. The foundation now supports contemporary Turkish art, notably video art, but the family buys art for their own use as well.
Borusan Music House photo Ahmet Ertug |
Though Zeynep Hamedi is now heavily involved with the orchestra, she does not regard herself as being specially musical and classical music is a language that she has had to learn, though her father did play. When she started working with the orchestra she attended every rehearsal possible, and studied the music, to learn more about the form. She continues to attend rehearsals when she can, but now out of a sense of delight saying that rehearsals are her favourites and that she enjoys seeing the players working on things. When travelling, Zeynep Hamedi now includes other orchestras and festivals on her itinerary.
Ekrem Yalcindag '195 Colors' from Borsan Holdings collection photo Hadiye Cangokce |
Though the family spends 5 million dollars per year on the orchestra, this is carefully budgeted with a series of five-year plans to ensure development (the next five-year plan starts in February 2016 and we are promised more international touring from the orchestra). The foundation is still a family affair, and Zeynep Hamedi's biggest worry seems to be not the present but the future. She admits that ensuring the continuation beyond her and her brother's lifetimes is difficult, she is reluctant to force her children though the six members of the next generation (children of Zeynep Hamedi, her brother and her sister) are encouraged to participate in the foundation and attend its board. Music for Zeynep Hamedi brings out memories, and she feels that her own children's musical memories have all been happy ones so that there is hope.
Whilst sponsorship is common in wealthy families in Turkey, few seem to have done so in such a comprehensive and systematic way. Under Sascha Goetzel's leadership the orchestra has developed from a talented provincial group to one with a real presence on the international stage, and with regular collaborations with international artists.
The remaining concerts in the 2014-15 season all feature Sascha Goetzel conducting the orchestra, with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 (with pianist Arcadi Volodos) and Mahler's Fifth Symphony (9 April 2015), operatic excerpts with baritone Bryn Terfel (16 April 2015) and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto (with violinist Julian Rachlin) and Brahms' First Symphony (30 April 2015). The season finishes on 14 May 2015, with Goetzel conducting the orchestra and the chorus of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Verdi's Aida with Latonia Moore, Stella Grigorian, Carlo Ventre and George Gagnidze. There is also a programme of smaller concerts with the Borusan Quartet (made up of members of the audience) performing in a regular series at the Sureyya Opera.
If you are planning to be in Istanbul between September and May, then it is well worth checking the orchestra's programme and trying to catch a concert. And of course, there is their next tour to look forward to.
This is one of a group of articles exploring the work of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and Sascha Goetzel in Istanbul. My review of their performance of Haydn's The Seasons is already on this blog, and my interview with Sascha Goetzel is forthcoming.
Elsewhere on this blog:
- Original fire: music of Manuel de Falla with the Nash Ensemble - concert review
- Essential listening: The Sixteen in music from the Spanish Golden Age - Cd review
- Varied selection: O Duo in their own distinctive music on Champs Hill - CD review
- Room to play: First of the BBT Wednesdays at Wiltons - concert review
- Dramatic bel canto: Donizetti's Siege of Calais - opera review
- Featured composer: Dobrinka Tabakova on Radio 3 and at Vale of Glamorgan Festival - interview
- Sparkling double: Malcolm Arnold and Donizetti one-act operas
- Clarity, poetry and strength: Kimiko Ishizaka in Bach - CD review
- Through new ears: Music of Arvo Part from the Tallis Scholars - CD review
- Blown away: Massenet's Le roi de Lahore in London for first time in over a century - opera review
- Few finer: Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Roger Vignoles in French son - CD review
- Home
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