2024-2025 Season Artists

Sylvia Berry

Fortepiano

Sylvia Berry is one of North America's leading exponents of historical keyboard instruments. A Philadelphia native based in the Boston area, she’s spent twenty-five years specializing in Viennese music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Her recording of Haydn's "London Sonatas" on an 1806 Broadwood & Son grand (Acis) drew critical acclaim. Early Music America declared her “a complete master of rhetoric, whether in driving passagework or in cantabile adagios,” while a review in Fanfare stated, “To say that Berry plays these works with vim, vigor, verve, and vitality, is actually a bit of an understatement."

Berry’s concertizing has also garnered notice. Her concerto appearances with acclaimed period instrument orchestra Bach Collegium San Diego led reviewers from the San Diego Union-Tribune to laud her as “a subtle powerhouse who coaxes great force out of what might seem like a smaller instrument,” and to proclaim: “Berry was everywhere at once, showing how this instrument, with such an ensemble, can be more powerful than a modern piano.” Of her chamber playing with the period ensemble Les Délices, Cleveland Classical enthused: “Her splendid playing took her up and down the keyboard in lightning-fast scales and passagework, and her thrilling full-voiced chords allowed the fortepiano to assert itself as a real solo instrument.” Her work on a production of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito with Opera Boston led Lloyd Schwartz to write: "Special applause for continuo fortepianist Sylvia Berry, [who played] as if she were one of the actors" in the Boston Phoenix.

Berry is known not only for her exciting performances but for the engaging commentary she provides about the music and instruments she plays. As a scholar she has written and lectured on the performance practices and keyboard instruments of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as well as the sociological phenomena surrounding the music of this period. She’s held masterclasses at The Academy of Fortepiano Performance (Hunter, NY), Longy School of Music of Bard College, Case Western Reserve University, and Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, and presented lectures and lecture recitals at The Center for Beethoven Research (The College of Fine Arts, and the School of Music at Boston University), Simmons University, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She currently coaches chamber music at Harvard University’s Mather House. As a soloist and as a chamber musician she’s appeared at The Museum of Fine Arts, The Princeton University Art Museum, Monadnock Music, Museum Concerts of Rhode Island, the Portland Early Music Festival, Pittsburgh Renaissance and Baroque, Cambridge Society of Early Music, Oberlin Conservatory, Emmanuel Music, Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory, Utrecht Early Music Festival, and Fenton House in London, among others.

Îklim Tamkan

Harpsichord

İklim Tamkan completed her higher education in Graz, Austria, where she received several awards and scholarships, including those from the International Kiwanis Club and Martha Debelli, sponsored by the Austrian government. She performed recitals and chamber music concerts in various European countries including Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Slovenia,and Germany.

 After returning to Turkey, she performed at various national and international festivals. In addition to solo and ensemble piano and church organ concerts in various cities across Turkey, particularly Istanbul, she also gave several solo harpsichord concerts to promote harpsichord music. She has collaborated with the esteemed organ and harpsichord artist Marton Borsanyi on numerous premieres in Istanbul.

In October 2016, she and her esteemed friend, mezzo-soprano Senem Demircioğlu, completed the album recording of their project "Şiirli Şarkılar." The project and its arrangements attracted the attention of world-renowned pianist Fazıl Say, who later produced their album "İlk Atlas," released by Ada Music in March 2017 on all digital platforms, as well as in CD and LP formats. Following the release of İlk Atlas, the duo expanded their repertoire to include a wide range of works, from folk songs to classical music, and they continue to perform together regularly.

Say also composed "Goldberg in Istanbul, Op. 94" specifically for İklim Tamkan, dedicating it as his first composition for the harpsichord. Tamkan premiered this magnificent piece to great acclaim from international audiences. The work was published by Schott Music and is now available worldwide. Tamkan continues to perform at the musical show "Invitation to Tomorrow, Nazım Hikmet," featuring live music alongside the renowned actor Yetkin Dikinciler and Demircioğlu. The project is staged both domestically and internationally.

Throughout her musical career, Tamkan has also shown interest in traditional folk music instruments. She aims to bring traditional sounds, especially those of minority groups in her country, to contemporary audiences as she supports human rights struggles globally. In addition, Tamkan has composed soundtracks for various movies, documentaries, theater productions, video art, and short films. She also teaches and mentors her students.

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