Bîrûn. Ottoman Music Workshops Persian Language Compositions at the Ottoman Court

Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
plus Apr, 0712 2014

The Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies has organised the third edition of Bîrûn, a series of advanced workshops on classical Ottoman music, directed by Kudsi Erguner, and intended for professional and semi-professional musicians. The term Bîrûn refers to what was once the school for Ottoman court musicians. One of the overall aims of the workshops is to make San Giorgio a centre for the cultural development of and thinking about the musical heritage of the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean basin. This year the workshop will focus on the theme of Persian language composers at the Ottoman court. For week a group of scholarship winners specialised in various instruments (ney, ûd, tanbûr, kanûn, kemençe, percussions and voice) will explore the works composed by Persian and Persian-language poets and several sultans at the Ottoman court. Persian was the literary language in the area and regularly used by composers in the art music tradition. The workshop will end with a concert by the scholarship winners led by Kudsi Erguner; the recording will be available as a CD published by Nota Edizioni.

This year Bîrûn will again be preceded by the Prelude to Bîrûn, an introductory study day organised by Giovanni De Zorzi at Ca’ Foscari University, Venice.