‘The Song of Nature’ comes to city

The 42nd Istanbul Music Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), opened June 1 with a ceremony at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress and Exhibition Hall. For the opening, the Borusan Children’s Choir, under the baton of Gürsen Yavuzkal, performed a short concert. İKSV President Bülent Eczacıbaşı presented the contributors to the festival with plaques.

This year’s festival’s Honorary Award was given to the world famous pianist Gülsin Onay for her successful career and her efforts to promote the works of famous composer Ahmet Adnan Saygun to the world.

The soloist of the opening concert was the young cellist Dorukhan Doruk, who was named the “Young Musician of the Year” at the 2011 Donizetti Classical Music Awards and won the first prize along with five other awards at the International Antonio Janigro Cello Competition. He was accompanied by the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by conductor Gürer Aykal. The opening concert honoured the festival theme “The Song of Nature” with Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s “A Forest Tale.”

Until June 27, the festival will host nearly 800 international artists in Istanbul, including Steven Isserlis, Isabelle van Keulen, Alexander Raskatov, Nelson Freire, Pepe Romero, Krzysztof Penderecki, Xavier de Maistre, Yuja Wang, as well as some of the world’s leading orchestras such as the Sinfonia Varsovia and the Venezuela Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra.