Gülsin Onay Piano Recital

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Turkish–Hungarian diplomatic relations, a special concert will be held as part of the Turkish–Hungarian cultural season. The concert will feature a work by Adnan Saygun, the national composer of modern Turkey. Saygun, who studied under Béla Bartók and maintained a close friendship with him, was also the mentor of pianist Gülsin Onay. The programme goes all the way back to the Viennese classics, with a special variation on two themes by Joseph Haydn, a rarely heard nocturne by Chopin and the more youthful but all the more grandiose Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante by Chopin, and a Turkish related composition from Liszt’s oeuvre. The opera composer Gaetano Donizetti’s brother Giuseppe had a military career in Napoleon’s army before moving to Istanbul and introducing the Turkish court to European music and artists. He is believed to have composed the first Turkish anthem, the theme of which Liszt worked on after meeting Donizetti.