Istanbul Music Festival begins

ISTANBUL

The 47th Istanbul Music Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), kicked off June 11 at the Lütfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Center.

This year the festival took the title “Darkness of Being, Lightness of Being” to draw attention to the impact of dualities such as good and bad, happiness and sadness, birth and death on music and its paths of creation.

Until 30 June the festival will feature 22 concerts in 15 venues, presenting 150 pieces from a diverse repertoire that spans the masters of Baroque music Bach, Vivaldi and Handel; one the most striking composers of the 20th century Shostakovich; klezmer induced jazz, and Ottoman classical music. The event will also be a stage for various other events such as pre-concert talks, workshops and free weekend concerts.

In the opening ceremony, the festival’s Honorary Award was presented to the conductor Professor Rengim Gökmen, the music director of the Presidential State Symphony Orchestra and founder/principal conductor of the Doğuş Children’s Symphony Orchestra.

Awarded every year since 2012 to promising young classical musicians, the Aydın Gün Encouragement Award was granted to the 22 year-old pianist Can Çakmur in its seventh edition. Çakmur’s award was presented by İKSV chairman Bülent Eczacıbaşı.

The 47th Istanbul Music Festival opened with the concert of the young pianist Seong-Jin Cho, the winner of the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, and the Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra, the festival’s Opening Concert Orchestra for 2019-2022.

Cho, 24, has risen fast on the international arena since 2015, playing with prestigious orchestras around the world and receiving rave reviews for his albums. The pianist, who made his Turkey debut at the festival’s opening night, reunited with conductor Aziz Shokhakimov after their performance with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra last year.

The festival will salute Istanbul with special concerts at the Grand Bazaar and Sirkeci Terminal, as well the Music Route that is headed to the city’s oldest neighborhoods Galata and Karaköy.

Human Requiem, which refers to the theme of the festival “Darkness of Being, Lightness of Being,” will be performed on June 28 and 29 at Zorlu PSM.

Fazıl Say, who has continuously impressed listeners and critics all over the world for more than 25 years, will perform at the closing concert of the festival on June 30 with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Liang Zhang.

The event will host music lovers in 15 venues in Istanbul such as the Hagia Eirene Museum, Boğaziçi University Albert Long Hall, İş Sanat Concert Hall, Lütfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Centre, Rahmi M. Koç Museum, Süreyya Opera House, Zorlu PSM, Grand Bazaar and Neve Shalom Synagogue.