40th Istanbul Music Festival Programme

Renowned French pianist Hélène Grimaud, Grammy Award-winning German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and Georgian composer Giya Kancheli are just some of the many stars to appear at the Istanbul Music Festival this northern summer.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2012, the festival announced its 40th year special programme at a press meeting on January 24. The month-long festival, held between May 31 and June 29, will host more than 750 local and foreign artists in the Turkish city, including two world premieres and three Turkish premieres.

Last year the Istanbul Music Festival started building its programme around a theme, and organisers have declared 2012 theme to be “Hope and Heroes”. The programme will present a range of specific works and special concert projects selected within the scope of these two intertwined themes.

Of the theme, Festival Director Yeşim Gürer Oymak said “Artists, just like heroes, follow their dreams for a lifetime. They fight for the community – sometimes even running the risk of opposing the community itself, only with the hope that they might one day be appreciated. They light our darkest hours; they inspire us; they instil hope into our exhausted souls and hearts. We invite the music lovers to an acoustic realm where hope and heroism reign in the wonderful works of great composers.”

He added that in addition to the performances relating to the theme of this year's festival, they will be hosting the world premieres of two festival commissions: Turkish pianist Fazıl Say's much anticipated Mesopotamia Symphony, and Georgian composer Giya Kancheli's symphonic work dedicated to the cellist Benyamin Sönmez, who died last year aged only 28. Kancheli will also be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award before the premiere of his work.

Internationally acclaimed Turkish pianist/composer Hüseyin Sermet, meanwhile, will receive the festival’s Honorary Award. Renowned not only for his successful interpretations but also for his compositions, Sermet has performed with prominent orchestras and conductors all around the world, and has previously been the recipient of the MIDEM Classical Award and the Diapason d’Or.

In addition to the acts above, this year’s Istanbul Music Festival will also host two special performances put on by the Zurich Ballet as part of the farewell tour of Heinz Spoerli, one of Europe’s leading choreographers. Along with concerts, the festival will also present talks, educational workshops and speeches.

Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (ISKV), the Istanbul Music Festival has been running since 1973, originally as the Istanbul Festival. From its inception it has included in its programmes the finest examples of artistic creativity in the fields of classic music, classical ballet and contemporary dance, opera, folklore, jazz/pop, cinema, drama and visual arts from both Turkey and abroad, as well as seminars, conferences and lectures. Being the oldest of the Istanbul Festivals, which became landmarks of cultural life in Turkey, the International Istanbul Music Festival has earned a reputation for its major role in encouraging research in musicology and in launching special projects on shared cultural values through its productions.

For a full program visit muzik.iksv.org