Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Marc Sinan - Project with traditional Turkish music

My classmate from the New England Conservatory has created projects that combine modernist concert music with traditional Turkish music and musicians. The first clip below is the trailer to a work for Turkish musicians, orchestra, and video installation that he composed for the Dresden Sinfoniker. The second clip is from a live performance of OKSUS. In this work, the on-stage musicians interact with videos of Turkish musicians.

Marc Sinan: Hasretim - Trip to Anatolia

Marc Sinan Company / OKSUS

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Found this great map/model of the city of Constantinople as it was in the Byzantine period. Surrounded by water this was a great defensible location and also open to trade through ease of access to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The city's origin was as a Greek city founded in 657 BC by colonists from Megara (near Athens, Greece). It became capital of the Roman Empire under Constantine in 324, thus the name change to Constantinople. The city continued as capital of the Byzantine Empire until 1453 when it was conquered by Fatih Mehmed II and his Ottoman army thus becoming the capital of the Ottoman Empire (Mehmed was 21 at the time). The name Istanbul was maintained after the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923.

Note the circular forum of Constantine with a central honorific column (one of the only remnants still extant from the Constantinian period in the city). Further back, note that there are two city circuit walls (the inner, first wall, is much less well preserved). The first wall was built in the fourth century when Constantine expanded the city from its more humble origins and the second, further out, was build in the early fifth century under the emperor Theodosius II. The entire area within the walls was not developed but served as fortification for fields and underground cisterns. These fortifications, still visible today, protected the city until May 29, 1453.

Headed for Turkey in a few days through the generosity of the Niagara Foundation. We have an amazing itinerary planned, which will start in Istanbul. I love this particular mosaic from the city as it encapsulates so much of what I love about the Byzantine art and architecture of the city. In this vestibule lunette over an entrance to St. Sophia from the south, Mother and Child are flanked by Justinian on the left and Constantine on the right. Justinian offers a model of the church, which was built under his reign between 532-537 AD. Constantine offers a model of the city (note the walls), which he made the capital of the Roman Empire in 324 AD. The emperors are further identified by inscriptions: Constantine the great Emperor amongst the saints and Justinian Emperor of illustrious memory. The mosaic post dates the iconoclastic controversy of 726-843 and so demonstrates the continued debt to these two emperors who laid the foundation for the Byzantine Empire's great city on the Bosphoros. The city of Istanbul is one of my favorites. Can't wait to get started!