Mersin Music Festival program launched

ISTANBUL

The 15th International Music Festival, organized in the southern province of Mersin, will bring together stars from Turkey and abroad in the city’s historic places between May 2 and 28. 

The festival program was launched at a ceremony on April 6. 

The festival’s president, Selma Yağcı, said, “The Mersin International Music Festival is not a classical music festival. Our goal is to bring together our people with music genres that our people love.”

As part of the festival, the 6th Composition Contest will be organized between May 2 and 7 and dedicated to the Yumuktepe mound in the city. The contest will be the opening event of the festival on May 2.
 
On May 11, Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th Symphony will be performed as the opening concert of the festival under the baton of Rengim Gökmen. Turkish opera stars Bengi İspir Özdülger, Ezgi Karakaya, Aykut Çınar and Teyfik Rodos will be on the stage at the concert. The Çukurova State Symphonic Orchestra and the Culture and Tourism Ministry’s State Polyphonic Orchestra will also take part in the concert at the Mersin Culture Center Opera Stage. 

The other highlights of the festival will be the Karrin Allyson Jazz Quartet, Turkish Ballet Stars, the Boğaziçi Jazz Choir, the Borusan Quartet, the Haydn Quartet, the Turkuvaz Quartet, İmam Baildi and From Flamenco to Anatolia: Ekrem Düzgünoğlu.

As well as the Mersin Cultural Center, the festival venues will include St. Paul Museum, the ancient city of Soli Pompeipolis, the Mersin University Yenişehir Campus Nevit Kodallı Concert Hall and the Yenişehir Municipality Culture Center. 

Festival tickets can be purchased from the festival office or the concert venues at a price between 15 and 30 Turkish Liras.