Interviews with
Martin Davidson
Paul Hughes
Sir John Tavener1
Sir John Tavener 2
A week of music, diversity and the ‘way we live together’
More than 1000 people filled Istanbul’s historic Hagia Irene, the first church built in Constantinople, on 22 June, to watch the international premiere of Sir John Tavener’s latest major choral work, 99 Beautiful Names of Allah.
The concert was part of a series of events underlining one of the key pillars of the British Council’s work, intercultural dialogue, hosting British Council Chief Executive Martin Davidson and Regional Director Terry Toney in Istanbul.
Davidson and Toney joined the HM British Ambassador to Turkey, Nick Baird to watch BBC’s flagship Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform Sir Tavener’s work, and his subsequent acceptance of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Istanbul Foundation of Culture and Arts.
Just three days before, The Beautiful Names had made its world premiere in the Westminster Cathedral in London. ‘Inspiration for the piece came to me as a vision,’ said Tavener, ‘I contemplated the meaning of each of the 99 names, as well as the sacred sound of the Arabic, and the music appeared to me spontaneously.’
The concert was broadcast to several European countries through the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), while Turkish news channels CNN Turk and Haber 7 covered the concert, as well as the events throughout the week, focusing on British Council’s work in Turkey.
BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Learning Programme kicked off the same week in Istanbul. The Programme, in partnership with the conservatories of various major universities in Istanbul, provided an opportunity for young Turkish musicians and students to work alongside musicians from the Orchestra.
Another event under the theme was a national conference to launch a set of media guidelines for the representation of disadvantaged groups, developed by the British Council in partnership with the Turkish Journalists Association. The conference was attended by over 50 local journalists, with David Jordan, BBC’s Controller of Editorial Policy joining as a guest speaker.
A colloquium on intercultural dialogue and music marked the end of the week’s Istanbul events, bringing together Sir John Tavener, BBC Symphony Orchestra’s General Manager Paul Hughes, and musicians, journalists, academics and religious leaders from Europe, the region and Turkey.
The colloquium was chaired by composer and broadcaster Michael Berkeley, taking Sir Tavener’s extraordinary work as the inspiration to stimulate a contemporary discussion on how music, especially music associated with inspirational texts, reflects upon and stimulates the development of greater understanding between people.
‘What intercultural dialogue does is to help us look for what we have in common, to celebrate difference and diversity.’ commented Martin Davidson as he opened the colloquium. He emphasised the importance of facilitating ways to create mutual respect in today’s world, and the significance of using the language of music for a new understanding.
Emre Aracı, one of Turkey’s leading younger generation of musicologists, summarised the spirit of the week with Rudyard Kipling’s Ballad of East and West: ‘But there is neither East nor West, Border nor Breed nor Birth, / When two strong men stand face to face, Though they come from the ends of the earth.’
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