A Taste of Spain in Anatolia
Maestro Jose Serebrier, Uruguayan by birth, will conduct the BSO in an evening of music from Spain. Guest soloist will be American classical guitarist Sharon Isbin. Among Isbin's many honors are having performed for the Obamas in the White House, receiving the Grammy for "Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra)" for her CD Journey to the New World (Sony) in 2010 (her second Grammy), performing at the 52nd Academy Awards (she performed for Martin Scorsese's Best Picture Oscar-Winning The Departed), and recording with Joan Baez. Boston Magazine has called her 
"The preeminent guitarist of our time,"The Times of London has named her "Brilliant Virtuoso," and the Atlanta Journal has dubbed her "The Monet of the classical guitar ... a master colorist."
On March 18, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., Ms. Isbin will deliver a master class at Bilkent. On March 19, she will appear with the BSO as soloist performing Joaquín Rodrigo's 1954 Fantasia Para un Gentilhombre (Fantasy for a Gentleman), composed at the request of Flamenco legend Andrés Segovia. The inspiration for the piece was from six dances scored by 17th-century composer Gaspar Ganz; one of the dances was based on a Canary Island folk dance.
Ms. Isbin will repeat the performance at Bilkent's Erzurum Concert Hall on March 21. Afterwards, she will travel to the Netherlands to complete her European tour, which started in Germany.
The BSO will perform two other twentieth-century Spanish compositions. Joaquín Turina's 1925 La Oracion del Torero (The Bullfighter's Prayer), a "tone poem" mixing Turina's Debussy-influenced French education with the lyrical folk dances of Andalucía, and Mañuel de Falla's 1920 El Amor Brujo Concert Suite (The Love Witch, or Wedded by Witchcraft), also based in the folklore of Andalusian gypsies and their magical dances.