PRESS
Isabel Herzfeld
The Stage of the Kammermusiksaal is filled with an impressive half circle of flashing trumpets and clarinets, high towering long-necked lutes and massive drums: they are the Hezarfen Ensemble from Istanbul and members of the Dresden Sinfoniker together with Turkish and Armenian guests, under the spirited leadership of Andrea Molino.
Tagesspiegel, Berlin.
Ismail Hakkı Aksu
“A Masterpiece”
“....an arresting picture of Istanbul, from its glittering dawns to its seething underbelly.”
Reflections on Art, İstanbul.
James Imam
“Ellison’s work has focused on the interaction between Western and Eastern music traditions, and it is striking how well he navigates the potentially disparate novel soundworlds here. Instruments break out of their traditional roles and mix to form novel sonorities, so that the sea music shimmers, a bed of strings below spangling oud [kemençe, kanun,] and reedy ney.”
“The Sea-Crossed Fisherman reflects the creation of a kind of total work of art in which were interwoven music, singing, acting, and dance, together with the stunningly beautiful videos of NOHlab.”
Opera Magazine
Dietrich Bretz
The diversity of the contributors to this performance (the Istanbul Hezarfen Ensemble with Turkish and Armenian guests and the Dresdner Sinfoniker under Andrea Molino's lively conducting) reflects the diversity of the music: although much of the tonal language was unusual to our ears, originating as it does from folk music, it breaks through any inaccessibility.
Kieler Nachrichten
Albert Storace
Zeynep Gedizlioglu’s fiery Akdenizli for violin, viola and piano (2008) reveals an obsession with saba makam and the European avant-garde. The Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s Cendres (1998) was performed by piano, flute and cello. My favourite was the US composer and artistic director of the ensemble Michael Ellison’s Invocation-Meditation-Allegro for solo flute performed with great virtuosity by Cem Önertürk.
It was refreshing and intriguing to enjoy this rare live exposure to such music from a neighbouring Mediterranean country.
Times of Malta
Evin Ilyasoglu
Günümüzde nice topluluk yeni müziğin icrasını zor bulup reddediyor. Hezarfen, çalgıların fiziksel sınırını ve bestecinin isteklerini bir arada gözetiyor.
Cumhuriyet Gazetesi