Buhurizade Mustafa Itrî and Johann Sebastian Bach

Itrî and Bach lived in the same century, but these two great composers perfected their art in very different places and social environments. One was a master of Turkish classical music, the other of western classical music. The life of Itrî is almost as much of a mystery as the life of Bach is known and documented. The same is true of their works: While we have a great collection of Bach’s compositions, very few of Itrî’s have survived to the present.

But leaving these differences aside, music remains as the common bond between Bach and Itrî, and it is the power of music that has brought us together here.