Istanbul Music Festival to run at open-air venues

ISTANBUL

The 49th Istanbul Music Festival will meet festival audience in open-air venues from June 3 to 21 June under pandemic measures. The festival, which will take place completely open-air for the first time in its nearly 50 years of history, will offer music lovers a “whole new classical music experience.”

The festival will present this year’s Honorary Award to the violinist Professor Cihat Aşkın and the Lifetime Achievement Award to Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks.

Aşkın is the international representative of Turkish Violin School and serves as a cultural bridge between the eastern and western civilizations as a cultural ambassador. He has gained a renowned reputation as an international violin virtuoso and has been performing in concerts since the age of 11.

He is also a jury member in many national and international competitions. Aşkın will receive his award at the opening ceremony of the festival.

Co-commissioned by the Istanbul Music Festival, Philharmonie Essen, Autumn Chamber Music Festival Riga and Wigmore Hall with the support of Hoffmann Foundation President André Hoffmann in 2020, Vasks’ work String Quartet No. 6 will have its Turkey premiere, postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic, within the festival.

Before this concert, to be held at the 49th Istanbul Music Festival, the Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Vasks, who received the State Cultural Award of the Republic of Latvia and in 2019 the Honorary Diploma of the Latvian President.

The theme and the entire program of the 49th Istanbul Music Festival will be announced in April.