Last two concerts at Akbank Sanat

ISTANBUL

The Akbank Sanat Guitar Days concert series will come to an end on Jan. 30, but not before two concerts featuring well-known international guitar composers. 

On Jan. 28, award-winning Polish guitarist and composer Marek Pasieczny will take the stage at Akbank Sanat. Considered one of the most influential and respected contemporary composers on the guitar worldwide, Pasieczny holds three master’s degrees in music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow and the Karol Lipinski Academy of Music in Wroclaw, Poland. 

As a composer, guitarist, lecturer and adjudicator, Pasieczny has appeared regularly at festivals in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He has composed for and collaborated with such musicians as Pat Metheny, Odair and Clarice Assad, David Russell, Roland Dyens, Carlo Domeniconi, Ana Vidovic and many others. 

The last concert of the Akbank Sanat Guitar Days concert series will feature French guitarist Jean-Baptiste Hardy on Jan. 30. 

The young guitarist moved to Paris in 2006, where he began to play in jam sessions and perform concerts at several music venues as a sideman and band leader, mixing a number of genres, from fingerstyle to blues, rock, gospel, and world music. He soon began composing, at the beginning mostly fingerpicking pieces for solo guitar, but also some songs for which he wrote lyrics. During this period, he also started teaching the guitar.
 
In 2012, Hardy decided to live in Istanbul where he could fully devote his time to his musical career. The Istanbul Francophone Music School quickly recruited him as a guitar teacher. Today he often performs with his trio or quartet on the Istanbul jazz scene, but also with other bands and singers. He has just released his new album “On verra” (We’ll see), which received its name from his first composition, created almost 10 years ago.

The concerts will begin at 8 p.m. and further info can be reached at akbanksanat.com