Performer: Sascha Goetzel

Jean-Louis Martinoty’s scenically seductive Don Giovanni comes as a welcome relief from recent Regietheater aberrations. 

Philip Glass' Eleventh Symphony, given its Turkish première at the Istanbul Music Festival, returns to his signature repetitive style. 

Most music Festivals only have to deal with demanding divas, mercurial maestros or bad weather. In Istanbul there is a lot more at stake.

The Istanbulite audience of symphonic music made a huge step forward in their sound worlds thanks to BIPO and the piano duo Ufuk & Bahar Dördüncü.

A well prepared "Resurrection" by BIPO under the baton of Sacha Goetzel which left a slightly bittersweet taste. 

For once, the musical menu was a good deal more sultry than the temperatures in the Royal Albert Hall as the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic made a notable debut in a programme full of what Rudyard Kipling may well have described as “more-than-oriental splendour”.

With a remarkably extensive season featuring a slew of major guests, and the cream of Japanese classical music talent, the TMSO has an uncanny ability to switch between musical styles on a dime.