New York orchestra to remember Eczacıbaşı

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Nejat Eczacıbaşı Memorial Concerts to be performed by New York Philharmonic at Istanbul’s Haliç Congress Center.

Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı, the founder of the Eczacıbaşı Group and the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), will be commemorated on the 20th anniversary of his death with two exclusive concerts.

The Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Memorial Concerts will be performed at Istanbul’s Haliç Congress Center on May 3 and 4 by one of the oldest and best orchestras in the world, the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert. The soloists of the concerts will be the world-famous violin virtuoso Joshua Bell and pianist Emanuel Ax.

The first concert by the New York Philharmonic will be the European premiere of Christopher Rouse’s new symphony, “Prospero’s Rooms,” which was commissioned by the same orchestra.

Tchaikovsky and Mozart tunes

The philharmonic will then accompany Bell for Bernstein’s “Serenade” composed for solo violin, strings, harp and percussion and conclude its program with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6. The second concert of the orchestra will start with Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 in C Major. The orchestra will accompany Ax in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major and conclude its program with Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” the orchestra, program and orchestration of which was organized by Ravel.

The philharmonic orchestra performed in Turkey for the first time in 1959 under the baton of Leonard Bernstein. The orchestra was then the guest of the 13th Istanbul Music Festival in 1985 under the baton of Lorin Maazel and the 23rd Istanbul Music Festival in 1995 under the baton of Kurt Masur.

Concert tickets, which cost 100, 150, 200, 250 or 350 Turkish Liras (35 liras for students), will go on sale on Feb. 16 through Biletix and İKSV.