Cappadocia festival in historical venues

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The month-long Klasik Keyifler Festival in several historical venues such as medreses, castles, natural caves, monasteries, churches, oil presses, and hotels.

Klasik Keyifler, the acclaimed chamber music series based in the central Anatolian region of Cappadocia, has announced the program for its fourth year with a summer season that will run from July 25 to Aug. 22, including 20 concerts and seven workshops.

This year the event will host over 100 performers from the Netherlands, Greece, Austria, Italy, Syria, Turkey and the United States, in programs ranging from Ottoman classics to numerous premieres of new works. Included is a celebration of the 150th birthday of composer Claude Debussy, as an example of a musical visionary, with a French repertoire.

Participating ensembles from abroad and Turkey include the Ricciotti Ensemble, members of the Atlas Ensemble, the Anatolia Ensemble, Idée Fixe and the Ankara University Soloists.

From Aug. 1 to 14 a series called “From the Composers’ Cauldron” will feature new and recent works by Stephen Hartke, Kamran İnce and Onur Türkmen, as well as 12 selected composers from workshops these three composers will hold. During the same period, Cyrille van Poucke, principal trumpeter of the Dutch Radio Orchestra, will join Tolga Zafer Özdemir, professor of composition at Bilgi University in Istanbul, for a special class in creative music-making and improvisational techniques. There will also be post-concert conversations with Turkish journalists and musicians.

Chamber music performances, master classes, workshops and recording sessions are also scheduled throughout the month-long festival in several historical venues such as medreses, castles, natural caves, monasteries, churches, oil presses, and hotels in the villages of Ürgüp, Nevşehir, Mustafapaşa, Göreme, and Uçhisar.

A project by Americans

Klasik Keyifler is the project of American violinist and renowned chamber musician Ellen Jewett and her Turkish husband, historian and tour guide Hüsam Süleymangil. Together, they combine their complementary expertise as a seasoned music professional and a Turkish tour-industry professional to arrange one of Turkey’s most inspired and enjoyable ways to enjoy an artistic summer in this exotic and magical destination.

Master classes for oboe are scheduled with Ernest Rombout of Amsterdam’s Nieuw Ensemble, for flute with Elena Cecconi of the Genoa Conservatory, for clarinet with Nusret Ispir of the Bilkent Orchestra, as well as with violinist Harald Herzl of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Turkey’s prominent siblings pianist Birsen and violinist and violist Özcan Ulucan, and Turkish state artist and principal violist of the BBC Symphony, Ruşen Güneş. For further information: 0www.klasikkeyifler.org.