Laila Salome Fischer
Musical director and original idea: Mehmet C. Yeşilçay
Soloists: Laila Salome Fischer (soprano), Nicholas Tamagna (countertenor, in place of Gerald Thompson), Jorge Morata (tenor), Murat Irkilata (Oriental chant, speaker)
Pera Ensemble Istanbul
Please note the current pandemic-related access restrictions, if applicable. Wearing a mouth-nose protection is recommended.
No one knows better than Mehmet C. Yeşilçay how to unite the musical worlds of the Orient and Occident into a sensual mix for the concert hall. The concert focuses on the settings of Tamerlano by G. F. Handel and contemporaries, as well as music from the Ottoman Empire. The historical Tamerlane, better known as Timur or Timur the Lame, was one of the most power-hungry rulers of the early fifteenth century: he strove to restore the Mongolian Empire and in doing so came into belligerent conflict with the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Bayezid I. The libretto by Agostino Piovene, the content of which ostensibly deals with the conflict between Bayezid and Tamerlane, but is concerned above all with allegorical and philosophical themes, was the template for nearly 40 settings up to 1810.
After their successful performances of previous years – such as the acclaimed, ecumenical One God concert in 2017 – the Pera Ensemble is returning to the Handel Festival. “With the Pera Ensemble from Istanbul conducted by Mehmet C. Yeşilçay, the patterns of sound require no translation. The melodies from ancient Europe and the mysterious Orient are condensed into fairytale-like fables of sound. Above the uncommonly rich, cleverly deployed mix of instruments rise voices of inestimable beauty...” (Tiroler Tageszeitung).