The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra (BİFO) opens its 2026/27 season on 10 December 2026 with a concert conducted by its honorary conductor Gürer Aykal, with pianist İlyun Bürkev as soloist. Held at the Lütfi Kırdar Asım Kocabıyık Anadolu Auditorium, the season concludes with a concert on 13 May 2027.
At the opening concert Bürkev performs Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, in a programme that also includes Weber’s Oberon Overture and Invitation to the Dance, and de Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat Suite No. 2 and the Ritual Fire Dance from El amor brujo. Borusan Arts Director Aydın Dorsay says the season was shaped around the idea of “a passage from tradition to the future and a meeting of generations”.
At the New Year Concert on 14 January 2027, conductor Karel Deseure leads the orchestra with soprano Nadine Sierra, in a programme of arias and intermezzi including “Casta Diva” from Bellini’s Norma. On 11 February cellist Edgar Moreau performs Elgar’s Cello Concerto under Shira Samuels-Shragg, and on 25 February 2027 conductor Christian Reif and violinist Lea Birringer present Sibelius’s Violin Concerto.
The “Salzburg Festival Stars” series opens on 4 March with conductor Jong-Jie Yin and pianist Martina Filjak in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. On 15 April Chloe Chua plays Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 under Maximilian Haberstock, and the season ends on 13 May with Jakub Przybycień conducting, Hyeyoon Park in Brahms’s Violin Concerto and Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony.
Date and Venue
- 10 December 2026 – 13 May 2027: Lütfi Kırdar Asım Kocabıyık Anadolu Auditorium, Istanbul
