Turkish Culture and Tourism Office UK Welcomes Şirin Pancaroglu Tonight

LONDON (03 April 2013) --- Turkey's leading harpist Şirin Pancaroglu will be giving a recital in London tonight (3 April) as part of celebrations of her 35th anniversary in her art. Taking stage at Kings Place, famous for its unique acoustics of the concert hall, she will cover a wide and varied repertoire ranging from Albeniz’s Asturias to Britten’s Suite for harp. In addition, she will also deliver the UK premiere of works by Hasan Uçarsu and Baris Perker. 

Co-organised by the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office and The Turkish Embassy in London, and co-sponsored by İşbank and Turkish Airlines, this prestigious event will be attended by more than 400 patrons to full capacity. 

The concert will go ahead in the presence of Turkey’s Ambassador to the UK, and other diplomatic guests from Chile, Morocco and Kuwait, and well-known names from the arts world, including Ates Orga, Zeynep Oral and guests from the Royal Academy of Music.

Tickets are nearly sold out, but queries can be addresses to Kings Place Box Office. (Telephone: 020 7520 1490).

Turkey’s most renowned harpist Şirin Pancaroglu distinguishes herself with her open approach to the music played on the harp. 

Pancaroglu’s professional training is associated with two distinct French schools of harp, known as ‘Jamet’ and ‘Renié’. Born in 1968 in Ankara, she studied at the Geneva Conservatory and subsequently received a Master’s degree from the Indiana University School of Music where she studied with Susann McDonald in 1992. 

Pancaroglu has been recognised for her remarkable efforts to introduce the harp to wider audiences in her native Turkey. 

Her work as the founder of the Association for the Art of the Harp which she established in 2007 took her into a journey of exploration in the field of non-governmental organizations in Turkey, working with official funds, forming alliances with various other organisations and professionals related to the art and business of music. ‘A kitchen for harpists’, in her words, the association led her to direct an international festival and put on yearly activities to benefit the exposure of the harp and its local-historical counterpart, the Turco-Ottoman lap harp, the çeng.

Over the last two years Pancaroglu has been performing several of her original collaborative projects, namely, Harmonies of Istanbul, featuring six works by contemporary Turkish composers written for her; her own take on tango music,

Cafe Tango which involves performers and dancers from Argentina and Turkey; Handicraft, a predominantly improvisational project based on traditional Turkish music of instrumental and vocal origins; and Resonating Universes, a 60-minute work for the western pedal harp, the celtic harp, the çeng and the electro-harp, written for her by new music composer Erdem Helvacıoglu. 

In 2013 she will be travelling to London for a solo recital at Kings Place in addition to taking part in international festivals in Belgium and Edinburgh with her Handicraft project.

The Turkish Culture & Tourism Office UK is pleased to welcome Şirin Pancaroglu, Wednesday 3 April, 2013 | 7.30pm at Kings Place Hall One, 90 York Way London N1 9AG

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