Active from 2005 Record label Berlin Classics | Genre Classical | |
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Albums Baroque Oriental, Momenti D'a Similar Mehmet Cemal Yesilcay, Valer Barna‑Sabadus, Werner Ehrhardt, Wojciech Bobowski, Lautten Compagney |
Baroque oriental by pera ensemble innsbrucker festwochen
The Pera Ensemble (founded 2005) is a Turkish early music group specializing in music of the Ottoman Empire. The group was founded by oud player Mehmet Cemal Yeşilçay (b. 1965) and psaltery player Mehmet İhsan Özer (b. 1961). The name "Pera" comes from the old Greek name (literally "across") of the cosmopolitan Beyoğlu district on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey. The instrumental ensemble includes oud, qanun, kemençe, and European medieval and baroque instruments: viola d'amore, viola da gamba, theorbo, shawm, and percussion.
Contents
The ensemble has a wide circle of collaborators. Mehmet Cemal Yeşilçay himself is also known as a member of the German-Turkish ensemble Sarband. The Pera Ensemble regularly performs and records with the German L'arte del mondo baroque ensemble, founded in 2004 and led by Werner Erhardt. Although it does not include permanent singers, Yeşilçay's ensemble has invited guest singers such as Ahmet Özhan (b. 1941) a renowned Turkish traditional music singer. Their collaboration with Romanian-born German countertenor Valer Barna-Sabadus (b. 1986) won a special "Klassik Ohne Grenzen" prize at the German Echo Klassik Awards in 2012. A larger project, co-funded by the Turkish and German governments, includes Sufi, Sephardic and Armenian cantors and choirs in reconstructions of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian music of the Ottoman Empire.
Discography
Songs
Ohimè ch'io cadoMomenti D'a · 2015
La Calisto - Act II Scene 2: Dalle gelose mie - Giunone'sMomenti D'a · 2015
Sonata - Op 5 - No 12 - "La folia"2016