Istanbul becomes the city focus of the SHMF 2025

Centuries-old bazaars next to modern skyscrapers, prayer chants against the roar of a metropolis of 16-million metropolis, music by Johann Sebastian Bach next to Anatolian folklore: Istanbul is a vibrant place of exciting contrasts. In the coming festival summer, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (SHMF) is dedicating a special focus to the city on the Bosporus.

With its rich history, Istanbul has been a melting pot of cultures for thousands of years. The city of millions unites a multitude of ethnic groups, religions and traditions, whose influences are reflected in the city's lively music scene. It is not only Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish or Jewish sounds that characterise Istanbul's musical life Istanbul's musical life - since the re-establishment of the Turkish Republic in the 20th century, there has also been a flourishing European-influenced classical music scene in the city, driven by western-orientated composers such as Ahmed Adnan Saygun and Ulvi Cemal Erkin. Conversely, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven also incorporated music from the Ottoman Empire in their works.

Starting with Kassia, the first known female composer of the 9th century from what was then Constantinople, Turkish folklore and 20th and 21st century composers such as Ferit Tüzün and Fazıl Say the SHMF will illuminate the musical diversity of musical diversity of Istanbul. Typical instruments of Turkish art music will also be played music, including the ney, a flute without a mouthpiece, or the kanun, a trapezoidal box zither. The programme includes symphony concerts, chamber music as well as song and piano recitals that focus on the dialogue between different cultures.