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The 54th Istanbul<\/a> Music<\/a> Festival<\/a>, one of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s longest-running classical music events, has opened with a ceremony and gala concert at the Atat\u00fcrk Cultural Center (AKM), bringing together leading international musicians, orchestras and cultural figures.<\/p>\n Organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (\u0130KSV) with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, this year\u2019s festival will run from June 11 to 25 under the theme \u201cHere & Now,\u201d exploring the fleeting nature of time and music\u2019s ability to create lasting memories.<\/p>\n Speaking ahead of the opening concert, Festival Director Efruz \u00c7ak\u0131rkaya said the event would host more than 80 artists and ensembles from around the world across 22 concerts at 14 venues throughout Istanbul. She noted that the theme was designed to highlight the transient nature of life and music, describing musical performances as moments that are born, grow and fade, while leaving enduring impressions on audiences.<\/p>\n The program includes two free public concerts, scheduled for June 14 at Yo\u011furt\u00e7u Park in Kad\u0131k\u00f6y and June 20 at Y\u0131ld\u0131z Park in Be\u015fikta\u015f.<\/p>\n Addressing the opening ceremony, \u0130KSV Chairman B\u00fclent Eczac\u0131ba\u015f\u0131 emphasized that the festival has been held uninterrupted since 1973 and continues to expand its reach through concerts, workshops and talks. He said this year\u2019s edition would also feature three world premieres, alongside performances by internationally acclaimed soloists and ensembles.<\/p>\n The evening also saw several prestigious awards presented. Turkish composer Turgay Erdener received the festival\u2019s Honorary Award, while renowned Portuguese pianist Maria Jo\u00e3o Pires was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The 2025 Ayd\u0131n G\u00fcn Incentive Award was awarded to young conductor, composer and violinist Kerem Tun\u00e7er.<\/p>\n The opening concert featured Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov performing with the Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Aziz Shokhakimov. The program included works by Russian composers Sergei Rachmaninoff and Igor Stravinsky.<\/p>\n Over the coming two weeks, the festival will welcome prominent ensembles including the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and CCN\/Aterballetto. Among the featured soloists are Bruce Liu, Kian Soltani, Lucas and Arthur Jussen, Ian Bostridge, Iestyn Davies and Sara Correia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.hurriyetdailynews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ISTANBUL The 54th Istanbul Music Festival, one of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s longest-running classical music events, has opened with a ceremony and gala concert at the Atat\u00fcrk Cultural Center (AKM), bringing together leading international musicians, orchestras and cultural figures. Organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (\u0130KSV) with the support of the Ministry of Culture and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2457587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[22119,389351,21800],"class_list":["post-2457586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-festival","tag-istanbul","tag-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Istanbul-Music-Festival-kicks-off-54th-edition.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2457586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2457588,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457586\/revisions\/2457588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2457587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}