Ever since 2004, a music festival has been organised in Gümüşlük, a town near Bodrum on Turkey’s Aegean coast. The festival was originally the brainchild of a group of musicians led byttwo pianists – Eren Levendoğlu and Gülsin Onay. Having begun as a small-scale piano event, it has now grown into an international festival that includes both classical music and jazz concerts. So far, a total of 1022 performers from 36 countries have taken part. In addition, there are master classes, and help of various kinds is provided for students of music.
This year’s events began on July 10 with a recital by Hungarian violinist Kristóf Baráti and Turkish pianist Tuna Bilgin. Since then, in addition to a number of recitals, piano master classes have been conducted by Gülsin Onay, Caroline Sageman and Michael Bulychev-Okser. On the programme for the remaining weeks of the festival are the following events:
Tuesday July 30
Kumda Piyano 1 (‘Piano on the Sand 1’)
GFA Piano Master Class Students’ Concert
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 226 TL. Students: 126 TL.
Place and time: Toprak Ev - Festival Centre, 20:00
NB: The Biletix page gives the starting time as 20:30.
Wednesday July 31
Recital by Russian cellist Pavel Gomziakov and Portuguese pianist Adriano Jordão
Works by Liszt, Schubert, Fauré and Debussy
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 448 TL. Students: 248 TL.
Place and time: TAŞTA - Antik Taş Ocağı, 21:00
Monday August 05
Recital by French pianist Olivier Moulin
Works by Schumann, Fauré and Ravel
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 448 TL. Students: 248 TL.
Place and time: TAŞTA - Antik Taş Ocağı, 21:00
Wednesday August 07
Recital by Russian pianist Ilya Itin
Works by Debussy and Chopin
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 448 TL. Students: 248 TL.
Place and time: TAŞTA - Antik Taş Ocağı, 21:00
Saturday August 10
Recital by Italian pianist Lorenzo Di Bella
Works by Bach / Leveque, Chopin, Schubert and Liszt
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 448 TL. Students: 248 TL.
An extra charge of 9.50 TL is made on each order for tickets.
Place and time: TAŞTA - Antik Taş Ocağı, 21:00
Tuesday August 13
Kumda Piyano 1 (‘Piano on the Sand 1’)
GFA Piano Master Class Students’ Concert
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 226 TL. Students: 126 TL.
Place and time: Toprak Ev (‘House Made of Earth’) - Festival Centre, 20:00
NB: The Biletix page gives the starting time as 20:30.
Wednesday August 14
Jazz concert by the Mats Eilertsen Trio (Norway)
Mats Eilertsen (double bass), Harmen Fraanje (piano) and Thomas Strønen (drums)
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 448 TL. Students: 248 TL.
Place and time: SUDA (‘By the water’) - Festival Centre, 20:30
Thursday August 15
Recital by Turkish pianist İlyun Bürkev and Azeri / Turkish violinist Elvin Hoxha Ganiyev
Works by Beethoven, Franck, Waxman and Kreisler
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 448 TL. Students: 248 TL.
Place and time: TAŞTA - Antik Taş Ocağı, 21:00
Sunday August 18
Jazz concert by the Çağıl Kaya Sextet (Turkey)
Çağıl Kaya (vocals), Tamer Temel (saxophone), Ercüment Orkut (piano), Eylül Biçer (guitar), Kağan Yıldız (double bass) and Cem Aksel (drums)
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 448 TL. Students: 248 TL.
Place and time: SUDA (‘By the water’) - Festival Centre, 20:30
Sunday August 25
Jazz concert by Miron Rafajlovic (Bosnia-Herzegovina / Spain) and friends
Miron Rafajlovic (trumpet), Daniel Garcia Diego (piano), Reinier Elizarde (double bass) and Shayan Fathi (drums)
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 448 TL. Students: 248 TL.
Place and time: SUDA (‘By the water’) - Festival Centre, 20:30
Thursday August 29
Jazz concert by Tineke Postma and Group Aria (Holland)
Tineke Postma (saxophone) and friends
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 448 TL. Students: 248 TL.
Place and time: SUDA (‘By the Water’) - Festival Centre, 20:30
Saturday August 31
Jazz concert by Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma and Turkish guitarist Cenk Erdoğan
Saturday September 07
Jazz concert by Italian pianist Stefano Battaglia and Turkish
saxophonist Tamer Temel
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 448 TL. Students: 248 TL.
Place and time: SUDA (‘By the water’) - Festival Centre, 20:30
Monday September 09
Closing concert: Recital by Turkish pianist Gülsin Onay and her son Erkin Onay (violin)
Works by Haydn, Mozart and Elgar
Tickets from Biletix. Price: 448 TL. Students: 248 TL.
Place and time: TAŞTA - Antik Taş Ocağı, 21:00
VENUE INFORMATION
TAŞTA - Antik Taş Ocağı (‘Ancient Stone Quarry’)
Fahrettin Altay Sokak
Gümüşkaya Sitesi, Koyunbaba
Accessible via dolmuş / minibus from Gümüşlük. Ask the driver to pass by Antik Taş Ocağı, the concert venue.
Link to map:
Toprak Ev (‘House Made of Earth’) - Festival Centre
Gümüşlük Mahallesi, 1120. Sokak Sahil Yolu
Located to the south of Gümüşlük beach, between the Sysyphos Pansiyon and the Zemda Hotel
Link to map
Issue 66, December 2023
Turkey’s Centenary Issue
