SINAN THE ARCHITECT

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SINAN THE ARCHITECT
"Sinan the Architect" (c. 1489/1490 July 17,
1588) was the chief Ottoman architect (Turkish
mimar) and civil engineer for sultans Suleiman
the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III. He was
responsible for the construction of more than 300
major structures and other more modest
projects.His apprentices would later design the
Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Stari Most in
Mostar, and help design the Taj Mahal in the
Mughal Empire.
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SEDEFKAR MEHMET AGHA
Sedefkar Mehmed Agha  (about 1540 -
1617) is recorded as the Ottoman architect of
the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (the "Blue Mosque")
in Istanbul. He specialized with inlay in
mother-of-pearl, giving him the surname Sedefkâr
(worker in mother-of-pearl). Later he
also switched to architecture. He became a pupil
of architect Mimar Sinan, Turkey's most
celebrated architect, becoming his first
assistant in charge of the office in the absence
of Sinan.He was given the commission for the
building of a walnut throne, inlaid with nacre
and tortoise shell, for Ahmed I, which can be
seen in the Topkapi Palace. From 1609 until
1616 he worked exclusively on the Sultan Ahmed
Mosque, called the Blue Mosque because of the
colour of its tile work. The design of the mosque
was based on the Hagia Sophia (Church of Holy
Wisdom), the masterpiece of Byzantine
architecture built in the 6th century, and on the
work of his master, Mimar Sinan. The design of
the mosque is perfectly symmetrical, with a great
central dome buttressed by four semi-domes and
surrounded by a number of smaller exedrae.
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FAZIL SAY
Fazil Say, son of musicologistAhmet Say,
established a substantial dual career as a
pianist and composer during the 1990s. As a
performer, he has won numerous competitions and
has performed with some of the finest orchestras
worldwide. He is also active as a jazz pianist
and regularly performs at international jazz
festivals. His compositions have been broadly
performed and recorded, and his works are
published by Schott.
He has performed with some of the worlds great
orchestras, including New York Philharmonic,
theConcertgebouw Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony
Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, and theOrchestre
National de France. His repertoire ranges from
the Baroque to the contemporary and he has
recorded works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, 
Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, andGershwin. 
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IDIL BIRET

• Idil Biret (born 21 November 1941
  in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish concert pianist,
  renowned for her interpretations of the Romantic
  repertoire.From the age of 16, Biret played as a
  soloist with the most distinguished orchestras in
  the world including the London Symphony,
  the Philharmonia, the London Philharmonic,
  theBoston Symphony, the Leningrad Philharmonic,
  the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Dresden
  Staatskapelle, the Orchestre de la Suisse
  Romande, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Warsaw
  Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de
  France and the Sydney Symphony. Biret also gave
  concerts at the festivals of Berlin, Montreal, Ist
  anbul, Dubrovnik, Montpellier, Nohant, Persepolis,
   Royan and Athens.

In 1995, Biret's recordings of Chopin's entire
oeuvre was awarded the "Grand Prix du Disque
Frédéric Chopin" in Poland.  In 2007 she was
decorated with Distinguished Service Order -
Cavalry Cross by the Polish President Lech
Kaczynski for her contributions to Polish culture
with her recordings and performances of Chopin's
music.
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OSMAN HAMDI BEY

• Osman Hamdi Bey (1842  24 February 1910) was
  an Ottoman administrator, intellectual, art
  expert and also a prominent and pioneering
  painter. He was also an accomplished archaeologist
  , and is considered as the pioneer of the museum
  curator's profession in Turkey. He was the
  founder of Istanbul Archaeology Museums and
  of Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts (Sanayi-i Nefise
  Mektebi in Turkish), known today as the Mimar
  Sinan University of Fine Arts.

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BEDRI BAYKAM
One of Turkeys internationally
most well known artists and intellectuals, Bedri
Baykam was born in 1957, in Ankara, Turkey. He
started to paint when he was only two years old,
and has had several exhibitions since the age of
six in Bern, Geneva, New York, Washington,
London, Rome, Munich, Stockholm, etc. during his
childhood years, when he was known as a child
prodigy, (wunderkind) throughout the world. He
studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris from
1975 to 1980 .During this time, he also studied
drama in LActorat, Paris. He lived in California
during the years 1980 -1987, studied painting and
film-making at the California College of Arts and
Crafts, in Oakland between (1980-1983). He
returned to Turkey in 1987 and has been living in
Istanbul since. Baykam is one of the founders of
the Turkish Plastic Arts Association (UPSD)
within the International Art Association (IAA)
which is a partner NGO with UNESCO. The artist
has been the President of UPSD-Turkish National
Committee since 2006 and he is in the Executive
Committee of IAA Europe and IAA World.