The great Ney player Aziz Şenol Filiz will perform at the Capella, Villa Schifanoia at 6 p.m on March, 29, 2017. A great opportunity to discover Turkish classical music.
Aziz Şenol Filiz took his first Ney lessons from Sencer Derya in Izmir; but music always ran deep in the family of Filiz. His father and grandfather were “Neyzen”, players of the delicate Turkish reed flute and members of the musical ensembles at Mevlevi dervish convents. Filiz completed his academic studies at Istanbul Technical University State Conservatory of Turkish Classical Music in 1984. In this period, he worked with many distinguished Ney player. His first performance on the international scene was in the 18th Istanbul Festival.
Since the 1980s he has organized many concerts in universities for the young to familiarize with the Ney and Turkish classical music. In 1990, with Birol Yayla, Filiz established the group called “Yansımalar” (which means “Reflections”), and performed in many concerts both their own music and the classical Turkish music pieces. They participated in many festivals in Turkey and abroad as well, such as the USA, France, Germany, Belarus, Sudan, Bahrain, Egypt, and Tunisia. Yansımalar discography is as follows: “Yansımalar” (1991),“Bab-ı Esrar” (1995), “Serzeniş” (2000), “Vuslat” (2001), “Pervane” (2004), “Mızrabın Nefesi” (2007), “Mektup” (2013).
Aziz Şenol Filiz also performed the pieces of the years 1500 – 1750 using the instruments of that period with the ensemble called “Bezmara”, which he formed with his colleagues between 1996 and 2002. The group Bezmara collected these performances in the following discography: “Topkapı’nın İhtişamı” (1998), “Yitik Sesin Peşinde” (2000) and “Mecmuadan Saz ve Söz” (2002). Many other artworks have been produced under the musical directorate of Filiz.
One of the latest projects of Filiz is his collaboration with Italian jazz player Luigi Campoccia for two albums, “On the Way to Damascus” (2009) and “the Dream of Osman” (2015). This project was described by Francesco Martinelli as “an exchange of feelings between Istanbul and Tuscany”.