Istanbul dimitrie cantemir jordi savall biography

Queen’s Hall – 18/08/22

A Festival Highlight 

There are always moments in each Edinburgh Festival when I think “Ah!

This is what a Festival should be!” Today’s morning concert in the Queen’s Hall was one of these moments.

Istanbul dimitrie cantemir jordi savall biography

Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI delighted a full house with a concert of music which could have been heard at the Ottoman Court in Istanbul in 1710. An atmosphere of tolerance and diversity prevailed at this ancient crossroads of East and West, and Savall and his players brought us a mixture of court and popular music from various traditions – Greek, Turkish, Armenian and Sephardic.

We saw this music through the eyes of the Moldavian prince, Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723), who lived in Istanbul, first as a hostage and then as diplomatic envoy for his father. A polymath with an open mind, he collected and transcribed local music and composed some of his own and wrote an extensive treatise on music (in Turkis