Horizon - Gülistan Ensemble Oct 28th, Helsinki

The rose and the nightingale are symbols of a love story in oriental literature. Almost all poems applied to music contain this metaphor. In this sense, in Ottoman classical music, the poems are the garden of roses (Gülistan) and the music is the melodies of the nightingale (Bülbül). This is why the ensemble, which was created to present the works of Ottoman women composers, is called Gülistan (the Rose Garden).

The most important centre of the great city's cultural heritage is Istanbul, first the capital of Byzantium and then of the Ottoman Empire. The classical music of modern Turkey is the fine arts of the Ottoman heritage, and this heritage is in fact the accumulation of many cities of the eastern empires, which centred on Istanbul. The most important school of fine arts, especially music, was the Ottoman palace called Enderun, where many musicians and composers, both men and women, were trained and gave concerts.

Unfortunately, like many other works, women composers were forgotten, but thanks to some writing systems used after the XVIII.th century and their transition to Western notation, many works were saved from oblivion.

For this project, The Gülistan Ensemble will present works by women composers of Classical Ottoman Music who lived in Istanbul from the XVII.th century onwards.

Join us after the concert for a post-concert talk with the musicians moderated by postdoctoral researcher Nuppu Koivisto-Kaasik from Uniarts Research Institute.

The Horizon concert series is a collaboration between HPO and MiklagardArts, and the programme is curated by Ceyda Berk-Söderblom.

Gülistan Ensemble

• Gül Yazıcı, Solist Vocal
• Neva Özgen, Kemençe
• Safinaz Rizeli, Kanun
• Kudsi Erguner, Ney
• Liam Mansfield, violin
• Mariette Reefman, viola
• Beata Antikainen, cello
• Tuomo Matero, double bass

More information and programme

Horizon: Gülistan Ensemble (this will take you to helsinginkaupunginorkesteri.fi)