Mehmet Cemal Yeşilçay

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Mehmet C. Yeşilçay (2005)

Mehmet C. Yeşilçay (* 1959 in Istanbul ) is a Turkish musician. The oud player is the founder and musical director of the Pera Ensemble . He has lived in Munich since childhood .

life and career

Mehmet C. Yeşilçay, born in Istanbul in 1959 , grew up in Munich , has earned a reputation as an important interpreter and musicologist through global appearances and extensive sound recordings. As a musician, researcher and ensemble leader, he has been passionately devoted to the musical repertoire from the Orient and Occident, which extends from the 10th to the 19th century, for 30 years. His work, which is characterized by lively emotion and creative vitality with its cross-border character, emphasizes on the one hand the diversity of the various musical and cultural worlds. At the same time, however, he highlights existing similarities and makes the musical exchange between Orient and Occident the focus of his work. He deals intensively with early music in Europe as well as with the musical repertoire of the Mediterranean and the Orient. As an expression of European interest in the Orient, in particular the culture of the Ottomans and their influence on art and culture, it has been widely used in Europe since the 16th century, referred to as "turquerie" or Turkish fashion. With his own works, such as the setting of poems from the “west-east Divan” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Yeşilçay also appears as a contemporary composer. His opera pasticcios and programs such as “Café-Orient meets Occident”, “Baroque Oriental” or “ Jerusalem ” have a beacon effect for the dialogue between cultures. In 2016 the world premiere of his symphonic poem "DIASPORA-Lieder aus der Fremde" took place, a composition for large orchestra and Turkish instruments, by the Rhineland-Palatinate State Philharmonic. A project conceived by Mehmet C. Yeşilçay under the title “Music for the One God” - the three monotheistic world religions of Muslims, Jews and Christians as reflected in their music, with works by Hildegard von Bingen, Bach, Schütz, Vivaldi and Pergolesi, Byzantine and Armenian church music, Aramaic chants, Sephardic Jewish synagogue music and Sufi music. "Music for the one God" has been performed several times, including in the Hagia Irena World Heritage Site in Istanbul and in the Munich Philharmonic .

Mehmet C. Yeşilçay began his musical education at the age of six from his uncle Seyyid Nusret Yeşilçay. He studied oud (the Arabic lute) and maqam theory, the theory of Ottoman-Turkish music, with Cinuçen Tanrikorur. In complementary studies, he dealt in depth with European classical music. He worked as a soloist with various ensembles such as Sarband, Concerto Köln and Hespèrion XX under Jordi Savall .

In 2005 he founded the Pera Ensemble, whose musical and artistic director he is to this day. Pera, named after an Istanbul district that has been a melting pot of cultures and religions for around 2000 years, brings together internationally renowned specialists in historical performance practice from Europe and the elite of Turkish art musicians. The critics attested the ensemble "a refined mixture of aromas, a mutual penetration and enrichment of the sound worlds" (Mitteldeutsche Zeitung). Numerous CD recordings document the work of the Pera and Mehmet C. Yeşilçays ensemble and their musical voyages of discovery, during which the most diverse musical and cultural identities are to be explored. Yeşilçay is currently working on various new projects such as "Hegire", a setting of poems by Goethe, Rückert, Rückert and Rilke for chamber orchestra and soloists, as well as on the symphonic poem for orchestra, choir and Turkish instruments, "Istanbul". Concerts with his ensemble are on the program worldwide, including participation in the “Tamerlano” opera project at the Handel Festival in Halle. The work of Mehmet C. Yeşilçay and his Pera ensemble was honored with the “Echo Klassik” in the “Classical Without Borders” category and the Bavarian Integration Prize.

Prizes and awards

  • Music award from the Turkish state television and radio company TRT
  • Nomination for the Culture Prize of the City of Munich
  • 2012 Echo Klassik in the Classical Without Borders division (with Pera).

CD releases

  • Dolby Surround 5.1 DVD of his Spaceflight
  • Ex Oriente Lux , solo album
  • Café (Orient meets Occident) , Pera-Ensemble
  • Oriental Pearls ,
  • Baroque Oriental
  • Armida
  • Momenti d'Amore
  • Carneval Oriental
  • Ballo Turco ,
  • Trialogue. Music for the One God
  • Jerusalem ,
  • 1219 The Saint and the Sultan ,

Compositions

  • Diaspora, songs from abroad. World premiere in 2016 State Philharmonic Rhineland-Palatinate & Pera Ensemble
  • Divan. Goethe connects. World premiere at the Munich Philharmonic, October 26, 2019. Munich Symphony Orchestra and Pera Ensemble

He is currently working on his projects “Mahomet” (setting of an ode by Goethe) and “Istanbul”, a symphonic poem for orchestra, choir and Turkish instruments. Also in various new programs for his ensemble. Tamerlano & Bajazet at the Handel Festival in Halle 2020 (revision)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ PORTRE / MEHMET CEMAL YEŞİLÇAY ( Cumhuriyet , Turkish, September 14, 1996, KÜLTÜR, page 8, accessed January 20, 2013)
  2. ↑ Mehmet C Yesilcay (accessed January 20, 2013)
  3. ↑ http://www.alem.de/nachrichten/pera-ensemble-erhalt-echo-klassik-preis-2012/1556/
personal data
SURNAME Yeşilçay, Mehmet Cemal
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Yeşilçay, Mehmet C.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Turkish musician
DATE OF BIRTH 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Istanbul