Turkish Cypriot music, history and culture will take centre stage in Sydney on Saturday evening, with the final few tickets remaining for Melodies of Cyprus.
Presented by the Northern Cyprus Turkish Association of New South Wales (NCTA), the one-night production at Bankstown’s Bryan Brown Theatre will chart the journey of Turkish Cypriots through music, storytelling and the arts.
The show brings together themes of tradition, migration, identity, memory and cultural continuity, with the organisers describing it as the story of an island and its people finding their voice on stage.
At the artistic helm is İskender Ozan Toprak, the Türkiye-born, Melbourne-based composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist who has built a career combining Anatolian and Turkish musical traditions with Western classical influences.
Born in Aydın, Toprak started learning the bağlama at the age of five before studying music at Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University and the Ege University State Turkish Music Conservatory. He later played bağlama for Turkish state broadcaster TRT and spent eight years in Germany before moving to London in 2010 and Australia in 2016.
His varied career has included performances with orchestras, theatre companies and artists including Turkish Eurovision winner Sertab Erener and Mercan Dede. Since settling in Australia, Toprak has staged and conducted ambitious cross-cultural projects at venues and festivals including the Melbourne Recital Centre, WOMADelaide and Port Fairy Folk Festival.
For Melodies of Cyprus, Toprak serves as General Artistic Director, helping transform the Turkish Cypriot community’s experiences and musical heritage into a contemporary stage production.
The concert is being staged by an organisation with deep roots of its own. Founded in 1953, the Northern Cyprus Turkish Association of NSW is one of Australia’s oldest community associations and has long sought to preserve and pass Turkish Cypriot culture and history from one generation to the next. NCTA President Müge Hüdaverdi and Toprak spoke to SBS Türkçe this week about the project and its cultural significance.
Event details
Event: Melodies of Cyprus – The Journey of Turkish Cypriots Through Music, Storytelling and the Arts
Date: Saturday 15 August 2026
Doors: 7pm; performance starts 7.30pm
Venue: Bryan Brown Theatre and Function Centre, 80 Rickard Road, Bankstown, Sydney, NSW 2200
Tickets: AU$62.50
Booking: Tickets can be purchased online (click here), subject to availability. Online sales close two hours before the performance.
