Antony Hegarty on stage at Jazz Festival

ISTANBUL

Antony Hegarty is giving a concert tonight as part of Istanbul Jazz Festival.

One of the most important voices of contemporary music, multi-faceted artist Antony Hegarty is visiting Istanbul for a special project.

The festival audience has never forgotten the last Istanbul concert of his group, Antony and the Johnsons, which charmed them in the historical Şan Theatre at 2007’s Istanbul Jazz Festival. This time, the group will perform at the Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theatre for a special performance, “Cut the World,” accompanied by Filarmonia Istanbul, an ensemble of 39 musicians, led by conductor Anthony Weeden, who is known for his previous projects with David Byrne of the Talking Heads, pianist Joanna MacGregor, the Royal Symphonic Orchestra in London and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

Hegarty will be accompanied by pianist Gael Rakontodrabe and the concert’s general director is Filarmonia Istanbul Orchestra’s music director and resident conductor, Hakan Şensoy.

Hegarty emerged with his musical ensemble Antony and the Johnsons in 1998. Their eponymous debut album was released in 2000. In 2001, Antony released a follow-up EP through Durtro, “I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy,” which, in addition to the title track, included a cover of a David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti song “Mysteries of Love,” and a Current 93 song, “Soft Black Stars”.

Antony and the Johnsons 2005 album “I Am a Bird Now” featured guest performances by Lou Reed, Boy George, Rufus Wainwright and Devendra Banhart. The album was released in North America by Secretly Canadian Records and in Europe by Rough Trade. Antony and the Johnsons won the U.K.’s prestigious Mercury Prize for the album.

Antony and the Johnsons’ third album, “The Crying Light,” was released in 2009. The album peaked at number 1 on the European Billboard charts. Fall 2010 saw the release of the “Thank You for Your Love” EP and in October the full length album “Swanlights.”

In 2010, The Sun newspaper gave Swanlights 5 out of 5 stars and called Antony “one of the greatest living vocalists.”

Throughout his career, Hegarty has also collaborated with Björk, Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, and CocoRosie.

Antony and the Johnsons’ “Cut the World” project includes songs from all four albums with symphonic arrangements by Nico Muhly, Rob Moose, and Maxim Moston.

Filarmonia Istanbul was founded by the core crew of Istanbul Chamber Orchestra, the first private orchestra in Turkey. The ensemble has become one of the most in-demand groups, and has also become the first orchestra to have permanent concerts on Istanbul Anatolian side, thanks to their cooperation realized in 2004 with Kadıköy Municipality. Filarmonia Istanbul started regular performances in 2004. The orchestra performed various pieces from the symphonic repertoire in many successful concerts during 2004-2005 season and also performed on many recordings. Performing pieces mostly from Turkish composers, Filarmonia Istanbul has premiered nine pieces since 2004, one of which was also dedicated to them.