Gumusluk – an emerging and unique beauty spot of Bodrum in the southwest coast of Turkey, will be hosting the 15th edition of the International Gumusluk Classical Music Festival from the 1st August to 4th September.
Kindly supported by the Mugla Metropolitan Municipality and Bodrum Municipality, the festival will start with a concert from the young talents who attended the double bass masterclass held at the Gumusluk Festival Academy this year.
2018 season features an inspirational line-up including Alexander Markov, Shaun Choo, Konrad Richter and Cyprien Katsaris.
The artistic advisor of the festival pianist Gulsin Onay and the artistic director of the festival pianist Eren Levendoglu are amongst other musicians from Russia, USA / Israel, Zimbabwe, Italy, Cyprus, Singapore, and Germany, performing at the 15th International Gumusluk Classical Music Festival.
The festival invites classical music lovers to the concerts under the titles of “On Stone”, “On Water” and “On Sand”. On Stone concerts will be taking place at the 25-century old Antique Stone Quarry. The first concert in this historic venue will begin on Friday, August the 10th, with Russian-born US violinist Alexander Markov and pianist Gulsin Onay.
On Sunday, August the 12th, the French-Cypriot pianist, and composer Cyprien Katsaris will give a recital. In addition to being an outstanding artist, Katsaris is also recognized as a leading pedagogue. Classical music in Gumusluk will continue with the Singaporean pianist Shaun Choo on Wednesday, August the 15th. In this recital, Choo will include his own compositions as a part of his prizes of which he won at the 4th Ahmed Adnan Saygun Piano Competition and the International Istanbul Orchestra’Sion Piano Contest. On Sunday, August the 20th, world-renowned German pianist Konrad Richter will play at the stunning historical Antique Stone Quarry.
To mark the 15th year of the festival On Stone concerts will end with a special event titled “440 Keys” on Tuesday, September the 4th.
Jazz at sunset
Internationally acclaimed jazz and ethnic music artists will be performing throughout the festival under the title of On Water. The concerts will take place by the seaside on Tuesday, August the 28th. Blessing “Bled” Chimanga & Dreams Band will be performing within the unique sunset settings of Gumusluk. The band promises to take the audience on an African journey with energetic and passionate rhythms.
New York Times defines Oran Etkin as “the great clarinetist and the great improviser”. On the 1st of September, he will be performing with Timbalooloo to meet children and jazz lovers for the project titled ‘A Childish Day’. On the 2nd of September, the artist will be on the beach of Gumusluk and performs his project “Reimagining Benny Goodman”.
Series of concerts from young talents
The concept of the festival On Sand will be jam-packed with concerts by the students of Gumusluk Festival Academy (GFA) this year. The concerts will take place at the Earthbag Mini Hall which is located in the festival center on the beach of Gumusluk. They will start with the Double Bass on August the 1st, the Violoncello on August the 7th; Violin on August the 9th. The Piano on August the 23rd and the last concert will be the Flute on August the 31st.
Masterclasses in 5 categories
Around 70 Gumusluk Festival Academy students will be attending masterclasses this year before performing at the festival. 1200 students trained by the virtuosos who performed at festival previously. This year’s masterclasses are as follows; Fora Baltacıgil, the Double Bass Masterclass, 28th July – 2nd August, Cello Masterclass Dilbag Tokay, 1st – 7th August, Violin Masterclass, Alexander Markov and Erkin Onay, 4th – 10th August; Konrad Richter, Cyprien Katsaris and Gulsin Onay Piano Masterclass, August 13th – August 23rd. Bulent Evcil and Raffaele Trevisani, Flute Masterclass, 26th – 31 August.
Gumusluk Festival Academy also collaborates with the Bodrum Music Festival for its students to perform at their sunrise concerts on the 5th and 6th August.
Other events
Special gourmet events are organized in cooperation with Fooodrum, Bitat, Slowfood and Karnas Vineyards to enjoy prior to GFA concerts. The festival programme and the ticket information can be found for all concerts and events at www.gumuslukfestival.org.
