Clarinet Festival to give breath to Istanbul

Istanbul will welcome the fourth International Clarinet Festival next month with concerts featuring top acts both at concert halls and impromptu venues around the city Turkey's largest city is set to get a healthy dose of cheer as the fourth International Clarinet Festival runs for 10 days from Sept. 10 and 20, promising music here, there and everywhere.

"We always say that we give breath to the city. We think that festivals enable people to breathe. This is why we will organize events on the streets, squares and the metro. The festival will be almost everywhere in the city," said Serkan Ça?r?, a clarinet artist and the festival's art director, said at a press conference in Taksim to launch the festival, whose motto is "Istanbul is breathing."

"You will hear music suddenly when you travel on a boat or the metro. All these events prove that this is a really comprehensive clarinet festival," he said.

Ça?r? said the first festival was organized in the northern province of Edirne and drew great interest. 

The festival offers different music types and different colors every year, and was not just a clarinet festival but also a music event. 

"We organize a festival offering all types of music but its name includes clarinet. Festivals with the name of any instrument are organized all around the world. It was inevitable that we would organize such a festival in our country which has rich music and talented musicians. It was a dream for me at first, but I guess we did a great job," he said. 

Ça?r? said music should live everywhere and never stop, referring to the negative environment in the country recently due to increasing numbers of clashes between Turkish security forces and the outlawed Kurdistan...