Biography
The history of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra (BIPO) starts with the Borusan Chamber Orchestra, one of the first ventures in the field of culture and the arts by Borusan Holding, a leading industrial conglomerate in Turkey. In time the chamber orchestra was transformed into one of the country’s best symphonic ensembles under its honorary conductor Gürer Aykal. Performing under its former artistic director and principal conductor Sascha Goetzel between 2009–2020, BIPO became a prominent element of Istanbul’s cultural scene. The orchestra performed at the Opening Festivities of the 2010 Salzburg Festival, also received the Turkish music magazine Andante’s “Best Orchestra of the Year” award in May 2010. In 2014 BIPO had the privilege of being the first ensemble from Turkey to be invited to the BBC Proms and gave a concert entitled “Oriental Promise” under Goetzel to critical acclaim. From 2023 to 2026, Carlo Tenan held the positions of Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra.
Since its first season 2000/1 BIPO has regularly given concerts in Istanbul, Eskişehir, Ankara, Ruse Music Festivals and appeared at special events at Megaron Hall, Athens and Palais de Bozar, Brussels. BIPO became the resident orchestra of the International Istanbul Music Festival between 2003–2018. They officially opened the festival every year with concerts at Hagia Eirene and accompanied top soloists throughout. Enjoying the privilege of giving world premieres of major Turkish and international works at the festival, BIPO is also the resident orchestra of the International Leyla Gencer Voice Competition.
The world class soloists BIPO has accompanied to date include stellar names such as Renée Fleming, Lang Lang, Hilary Hahn, Elīna Garanča, Juan Diego Flórez, Angela Gheorghiu, Joseph Calleja, Maxim Vengerov, Roberto Alagna, Rudolf Buchbinder, Nicola Benedetti, Sarah Chang, Murray Perahia, Bryn Terfel, Isabelle Faust, Branford Marsalis, Martin Grubinger, Steven Isserlis, Viktoria Mullova, Natalie Clein, Katia & Marielle Labèque, Daniel Müller-Schott, Nadja Michael, Isabelle van Keulen, Julian Rachlin, Thomas Hampson, Sabine Meyer, Michel Camilo, Arcadi Volodos, Ayla Erduran, Hüseyin Sermet, İdil Biret, Fazıl Say and the Juilliard String Quartet. BIPO also gave concerts under the direction of Igor Oistrakh, Krzysztof Penderecki, Emil Tabakov, Pavel Kogan, James Judd, Alain Paris, Ion Marin, Justus Frantz, Joseph Wolfe, Andreas Schüller, Joseph Caballé-Domenech, Rengim Gökmen, Kamran İnce and Ryan McAdams.
The aim to become one of the best symphonic ensembles of Europe was consolidated in the season 2009–10, when BIPO released its first international CD with works by Respighi, Hindemith, and Schmitt on the Onyx label. Their second CD with Goetzel, Music from the Machine Age, was released in 2012, the third featuring works of Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, Erkin and Ippolitov-Ivanov was released in 2014; and the fourth CD with Turnage & Berlioz was released in 2018 again by Onyx. BIPO accompanied Ksenija Sidorova on Carmen, her first album recorded with the prestigious classical record label Deutsche Grammophon and released in June 2016. The CD recording titled Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto; Rococo Variations (2017) and Baïka (2018) performed by Nemanja Radulović accompanied by BIPO is on the Deutsche Grammophon label. The CD entitled Richard by tenor Daniel Behle with Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Thomas Rösner was released in 2023 on the Prospero label. BIPO’s ninth album, Bartók, Enescu, Kodály, Martinů, recorded by Onyx under the baton of Carlo Tenan, was released on all digital platforms in May 2025.
With a strong commitment to fostering and advancing love of and appreciation for classical music, BIPO has become the major constituent of a social responsibility project. Under the title of “Special Concert”, BIPO has performed under the baton of a leading figure from the Turkish business and art scene, whose donations provided scholarships for young talents to study at prestigious institutions.
In February 2016, the orchestra went on a tour from Vienna to prestigious German venues and received positive reviews from the European press. A year later they gave concerts at the Hong Kong Arts Festival and had a successful European tour with Daniel Hope and Vadim Repin. BIPO was applauded at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the last concert hall of a European tour that began in 2018 with Daniel Hope and continued with Nemanja Radulović. In 2025, during its United Kingdom tour covering five cities (Perth, Edinburgh, London, Guildford, and Sheffield), BIPO performed five concerts under the baton of Carlo Tenan, accompanying cellist Pablo Ferrández, and was acclaimed with prolonged standing ovations by thousands of listeners. In the same year, as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the orchestra gave two concerts in Hamburg and Flensburg under Carlo Tenan, accompanying Fazıl Say, and earned the distinction of being the first Turkish orchestra to perform at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie.
During the 2025/26 season, the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra (BİFO), whose concerts were broadcast live on our radio station, Borusan Klasik, shared the stage with Gürer Aykal; Carlo Tenan; and such distinguished artists as conductor and soprano Barbara Hannigan, Martijn Dendievel, Ilya Maximov under the baton of František Macek, Marc Coppey, Koro İstanbul under the direction of Kübra Şenyaylar, Jan Lisiecki, Maria Meerovitch, Omar Tomasoni, François-Frédéric Guy, Ferhat Can Büyük, Salih Can Gevrek, Enkeleda Kamani, Deniz Uzun, İlker Arcayürek, Li Huanhong, and the Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir under the direction of Cornel Groza.
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Updated: September 2026
For more info:
Kerem Gökbuget
keremg [at] borusansanat [dot] com
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