Everywhere Istanbul, everywhere music festival

ISTANBUL

The festival will begin with the opening ceremony and concert on June 1 at Lütfi Kırdar Congress and Exhibition Hall. Fazıl Say will also feature with a special project.

The 42nd Istanbul Music Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) under the sponsorship of Borusan Holding, will meet music lovers between May 31 and June 27. This year’s festival will be held with the theme “The Song of Nature.”

The 42nd Istanbul Music Festival will host approximately 800 local and foreign artists with 26 concerts in different venues including Burgazada Square, Hagia Eirene Museum, Süreyya Opera House, Surp Vortvots Vorodman Church, İş Sanat Concert Hall, Zorlu Center Performing Arts Center, and Boğaziçi University’s Albert Long Hall. The festival will also present free-of-charge concerts titled “Classical Sundays” in venues such as Maçka Cumhuriyet Park, Istanbul Toy Museum, Sakıp Sabancı Museum “The Horse Mansion” Garden and Austrian Cultural Office Garden.

The festival will begin with the opening ceremony and concert on June 1 at Lütfi Kırdar Congress and Exhibition Hall. Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gürer Aykal will accompany the young cellist Dorukhan Doruk who has been awarded highly in international competitions.

The 42nd Istanbul Music Festival confers its Honorary Award on pianist Gülsin Onay, one of Turkey’s child prodigies, who has since built a distinguished international career spanning 68 countries across every continent. Onay will be presented her award at the opening ceremony.

The festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award will be bestowed upon one of the greatest conductors of our times, Zubin Mehta. Mehta has given well over 2000 concerts and toured five continents with the Israel Philharmonic alone. His support to young artists all around the world and use of music for humanitarian causes, disregarding boundaries or conflicts, stand out as a prime witness to the unifying power of music. He will receive his award in a ceremony before the concert on June 21 at the Hagia Eirene Museum.

The world premiere of “Crying in the Wilderness,” composed by Alexander Raskatov with a special commission by the Istanbul Music Festival will take place on June 13 at the Hagia Eirene Museum. Sinfonia Varsovia and Warsaw Philharmonic Choir conducted by Andres Mustonen will accompany the prominent cellist Yuri Bashmet during the concert.

Special project with Fazıl Say

The festival has a special project with Fazıl Say amd the Mesopotamia Symphony, which took place in the 40th year of the festival. With the commissioning of the festival, Say composed a special work that will commemorate Sait Faik Abasıyanık, who is a mile stone in Turkish literature, for the 60th anniversary of his death. The piece, written and directed by Özen Yula, functions as a meeting point for literature and music. Actresses Demet Evgar, Songül Öden and Esra Bezen Bilgin will perform as narrators. Say will perform on piano and will be accompanied by Birsen Tezer, Serenad Bağcan and the Borusan Quartet on June 25 in Burgazada, where Abasıyanık spent most of his life. The composition will also be performed on June 26 at Zorlu PSM.

The shining star of the European music scene, Spanish soprano Nuria Rial will take her award-winning cooperation with the Austrian Baroque Company to the festival. The concert will take place on June 5 at the Hagia Eirene Museum.

The British group London Octave is known for its remarkable unanimity and contagious verve. The London Octave specializes in baroque music with healthy, vibrant, modern sounds and approaches the baroque and classical repertoire in a fresh and vital manner. The concert at the Süreyya Opera House on June 9 will feature the distinguished Turkish flautist Halit Turgay as the soloist.

One of the important events of the festival will be the concert by Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra of Venezuela with 240 performers conducted by the music director Christian Vásquez, one of the talents grown by the inspiring El Sistema, in Zorlu Performing Arts Center on June 10.

El Sistema, which was founded in Venezuela by the pianist and composer José Antonio Abreu, is considered the most significant classical music project in the world. Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra of Venezuela will have free-of-charge events, as well as their concert. The panel discussion with the participation of Abreu and representatives of Sistema Europe will take place at Martı Istanbul Hotel on June 10.

The festival will organize free-of-charge concerts within its “The Song of Nature” theme, under the “Classical Sundays” headline in several parks and gardens.

For the first concert, young percussionist Elman Mecid will perform at Istanbul Toy Museum on June 7. In the second concert to be held in Maçka Cumhuriyet Park on June 8 at Maçka Park, Mecid will have a solo performance. For the second part of the concert, Anadolu University State Conservatory Chamber Orchestra will perform with conductor Hakan Şensoy. Cellist Dilbağ Tokay and pianist Emine Serdaroğlu will meet music lovers at Sakıp Sabancı Museum “The Horse Mansion” Garden on June 15. Ensemble Concilium musicum Wien will perform in the garden of Austrian Cultural Office Garden on June 22. On June 27 at Zorlu PSM, the gifted pianist Yuja Wang will give the closing concert of the festival with Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Sascha Goetzel.