Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra

The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra ( BIFO ) was founded in 1993 as the Borusan Chamber Orchestra. Borusan, a Turkish conglomerate, began the project of building a classical orchestra.

Borusans goal was to bring closer polyphonic music to a wide audience Turkish. The orchestra grew rapidly, so that it became a full symphony orchestra in 1999. In the same year Gürer Aykal was appointed general music director and chief conductor of the orchestra constant.

On 13 May 1999, the first concert of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra took place in the Yildiz Palace Silahhane place on the European side of Istanbul and, soon after, concerts were organized on the Anatolian side of the city. By the end of 1999 played the BIFO two concerts a month, one on each side of the Bosphorus, in the Lutfi Kirdar Concert Hall on the European side and center of learning in Kadikoy on the Asian side. This format determined to date, the concert program with a total of 24 performances per year, with concerts on the Anatolian side held today in Caddebostan Cultural Center.

Since 2008, the BIFO is headed by the Austrian Sascha Goetzel.

Music program and concerts

The 2005-2006 season

The concert season, the orchestra began in September in Athens with a performance of Oresteia by Iannis Xenakis. The BIFO was accompanied in concert by a Greek chorus and soloists. In Istanbul, the season was opened with a concert with guest soloists Fazıl Say. The BIFO came afterwards again in November in Athens, in the specific context of the Megaron Concert Hall, and presented works by Turkish composers to the accompaniment of the Greek pianist Dimitris Sgouros. Also in November 2005, the orchestra opened the Eskişehir International Music Festival. This was followed by an evening in Istanbul with the Russian mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina. In the remaining game time, there were guest appearances by soloists such as Emre Şen, Steven Isserlis, Joanna MacGregor and Domenico Nordio and a concert with guest conductor Rengim Gökmen.

The 2006-2007 season

The eighth season of the orchestra opened with a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's 14th symphony, accompanied by the soloists Irina Rubstova and Dimitru Stepanovic, in September 2006. In October, the BIFO traveled to Brussels to enter in the TÜSİAD Turkey - Europe week a special concert for the first anniversary of the start of negotiations between Turkey and the EU on Turkey's full membership. On this occasion the BIFO played under the direction of Gürer Aykal works of Franz Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ferit Tüzün at the Palais des Beaux Arts. Back in Istanbul followed by concerts with soloists such as the Turkish pianist Gülsin Onay and Emrecan Yavuz, the Argentinean bandoneon virtuoso and composer Dino Saluzzi, the pianist Peter Jablonski, conductor Alain Paris and the Juilliard String Quartet.

Over the years, the orchestra and the soloists Maxim Vengerov, Vadim Gluzman, Dimitris Sgouros, Alexander Rudin, Suna Kan, Idil Biret, Fazıl Say, Ayşegül Sarica, Meral Güneyman, Ayla Erduran, Verda Erman, Gülsin Onay, Anna Tomowa - Sintow, Olga Kern, Corey Cerovsek and Stanislav Ioudenitch together. Guest conductors were Igor Oistrakh, Emil Tabakov, Giuseppe Lanzetta, Fabiano Monica, Alain Paris and finished Sakpınar. In addition, the BIFO was also accompanied by the Vienna Singing Club. A popular tradition is the annual New Year's concerts.

The 2007-2008 season

This season opened the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra in October with a concert, conducted by Gürer Aykal with the young Canadian violinist James Ehnes as soloist. Works by A. Adnan Saygun, to commemorate the centennial of his birth, and Sibelius, in honor of his fiftieth anniversary of the death were listed. The November concert was conducted by Josep Caballé Domenech, Guest soloist was pianist Emre Şen. In the New Year's Concert in December, the orchestra accompanied the soloists under Gürer Aykal Turgay Hilmi in a written work for alphorn. Guests this season were, among others, the conductor Andreas Schüller, the piano duo Ferhan & Ferzan Önder, Ayhan Uştuk, Çağ Erçağ, Özcan Ulucan, John Lill and the conductor Sascha Goetzel. For the gala concert, the orchestra was able to welcome the prominent Philharmonia Choir and perform for the first time in Turkey Dvorak's Requiem.

The opening concerts of the next season of BIFO, on 19 and 20 November 2008, conducted by Gürer Aykal who was last appointed as honorary conductor of the orchestra.

Music Director and Chief Conductor

After a year-long competition in season 2007/2008, which was attended by guest conductors from four nations, certain international jury awarded the Austrian conductor Sascha Goetzel the new music director of the Symphony Orchestra.

Goetzel takes over this position from Gürer Aykal, founding director of the orchestra and responsible since then for its artistic development. Tasks for Sascha Goetzel are the preparation of concert tours and guest concerts of the orchestra in the context of major European music festivals. The orchestra will play a special role in the Istanbul Festival 2010 when Istanbul is European Capital of Culture.