Columns & Conversation

Festival talk with Ümit Ünal A festival talk was held with the participation of director, author, screenwriter and the President of National Competition Jury Ümit...

What makes a piano superstar? Two Grammy Awards in the classical music genre? Numerous Gramophones? Honorary doctorates from highly heralded universities like Duke and...

It is said that opera is the ultimate manifestation of art, that it is the pinnacle of artistry: it requires ultimate mastery of music...

Among the impressive list of twenty-six concerts, the evening of “Turquerie: The Ottoman Magic” was the evening that I had been looking forward to...

Howling winds and frigid cold this past Saturday night did little to dissuade a group of us from attending the Pinhâni show at Kadıköy...

With her Norwegian roots, amazingly unique covers and acoustic performances, Ane Brun took the audience to her somewhat sad but mostly peaceful musical world...

I have to admit that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Oh Land... until last Tuesday when I listened to her perform live on...

I never liked running. I grew up playing tennis and to me, the long and painful sessions on the track were part of the...

Authentically exotic, psychedelic folk music group Flower Room’s art is digged! “Along with timbers arising within us against commotion, society and time, we reflect our...

The 47th Istanbul Music Festival, organized by IKSV, has come to an end (and now starts the Jazz Festival). This year, the festival really...

Hande Başaran is a Renaissance woman: musician, singer, mother, kindergarten teacher and all-round creator. When I first heard Hande perform, I was struck by the...

Meet Lisa Morrow, a writer who is consistently surprised by the city. Learn more about her book and her favorite places in Istanbul below!  Why...

With his bearded chin and pierced left ear, Tom Whitty looks every inch the artist. He dresses casually, talks quietly and occasionally seems to...

Meet Phil Dexter from Kiron Open Higher Education Istanbul, an online education platform for refugees. As scenes of refugees in situations of despair and distress have...

I met Lisa Morrow for the first time at Story Café, a modern coffee shop in Kadıköy popular among both Turks and foreigners where...

On the way to work the other morning, the taxi driver, noticing I was a yabancı, asked the usual, inevitable question. “America,” I answered. “Amerika?” the driver...

Since I moved to Izmir for work, my visits to Istanbul have become more dedicated, more concentrated. Now, every time I return I feel...

Carla Lemgruber traveled quite a distance from Rio de Janeiro in pursuit of love so that she could set roots here in Istanbul. A...

The most recent iteration of the Designer-in-Residence program at ATÖLYE has seen their Prototyping Lab take on new life, where resident Eli Bensusan can...

From the organizer: We are delighted to invite you to the launch of Connect for Creativity on Tuesday 7 May, 19.00 at ATÖLYE. Connect for Creativity...

ATÖLYE Dubai continues with its guest series Insight Out, featuring creative seekers whose inward explorations have positively impacted the work they put out into the...

For those unfamiliar, this isn’t the Mount Nemrut of stone headed statue fame in the province of Adıyaman. I’m talking about the caldera-topped Nemrut...

Saturday, 22 September In the morning, early, before anyone was stirring in Çardak, I walked out to the main road and began that day’s walk...

Nimara Mağarası is a fascinating, Neolithic era cave near Marmaris, in southwest Turkey. Though close to home, I’d only fantasied about this tactile wonderland...