The 2022-2023 Concord Community Music School Bach’s Lunch series kicks off this month with a lecture and concert featuring guest performers Tev Stevig and Michael K. Harrist playing and discussing Turkish makam music.
“What is Makam? An Introduction to the Makam of Istanbul for the Western Listener” on Oct. 6 will feature Tev Stevig, who draws on his 20-year exploration of makam-based music to define Turkish makam and explain how the Western musical experience can both help and hinder our understanding of this music.
On Oct. 13, Tev Stevig and Michael K. Harrist present Cesni Duo: A Fluid Score, a program of original modal music inspired by their experiences with the folk and classical music traditions of Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, the Levant, Iran, Afghanistan, and North India.
At turns romantic and elegant, vivacious and playful, the music of Çeşni Duo is grounded in the flavors (çeşniler) of Turkish makam music while remaining deeply personal and contemporary. The ensemble guides the listener from dove-tailing contemplative melodies to odd-metered tunes that throw caution to the wind. A well-placed breath opens the ceiling, an evocative ornament opens the heart.
Stevig and Harrist first met in Istanbul in 2010. Back home in Boston, they found themselves playing and studying Ottoman art music together in Orkestra Marhaba. A modal music tradition, Türk sanat müziği (Turkish art music) developed in the urban areas of the Ottoman Empire and has a history of over 500 years. The tradition includes a wide range of repertoire, composers, and practitioners. Çeşni Duo draws from this great tradition and the more modern stylings of contemporary musician-composers such as Erkan Oğgur, Ross Daly, Murat Aydemir, and Efrén López.
Bach’s Lunch programs are free and open to the public and take place from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. on the first and second Thursdays of each month, October through May, in the Music School’s Recital Hall, 23 Wall Street, downtown Concord.
This month’s free Bach’s Lunch programs will be held in person at the Music school. Masks are optional and pre-registration is not required.
The Bach’s Lunch Series is sponsored by The Timothy and Abigail B. Walker Lecture Fund. Visit www.ccmusicschool.org.