City Recital Hall – OTTOMAN BAROQUE AUSTRALIAN BRANDENBURG ORCHESTRA
22 – 31 October

The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra invites you on a journey presented with Whirling Dervishes, revered musicians from Turkey and musicians of the Greek meyhané tradition.

Tracing the journey of a mystical and imaginary traveller throughout Europe, Ottoman Baroque is a musical journey reflecting the riches, mysteriousness, influences and exotic sound of the faraway Orient.

Our traveller begins in France with the music of Lully and Marais, then passes through Germany (Telemann), Italy (Allegri) and Spain (Boccherini) before arriving in the eastern Mediterranean with the music of the meyhané tradition of Greece and Eastern Anatolia. Our traveller’s final destination is Turkey, where revered Turkish musicians and the Whirling Dervishes mesmerise, entrance and inspire.

artists
Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
Brandenburg Choir
Traditional Turkish musicians
Paul Dyer AO – Director

instrumentation
The Ottoman Baroque series will feature some of Turkey’s finest exponents of the kudün (drum), qanun (a plucked string instrument), tambur (a fretted string instrument) and ney (a reed flute) and will culminate with the arrival of the spellbinding Whirling Dervishes.

story behind the music

Paul Dyer’s concept for the Ottoman Baroque series began with a conversation with a long time friend and supporter of the Brandenburg and culminated in his attendance at a ceremony of the famous Whirling Dervishes in Konya, Turkey. Here there was a fortuitous meeting between Paul and Esin Çelebi Bayru, Vice President of the International Mevlana Foundation. This meeting led to an invitation from Paul to Esin to travel to Sydney for these very special concerts.