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  İstanbul is the center of Turkish cultural
life and has a significant role in the world cultural medium with its diverse dimensions.
As such, it hosts two major year-round festivals; The International İstanbul Festival
and The Yapı Kredi Arts Festival. Unlike other cultural and arts events in İstanbul
that focus on a certain category of music or arts, for instance Jazz Festival, Pop
Festival etc., the Yapı Kredi Arts Festival offers a wide range of events to art
lovers. To date hundreds of pop, rock, classical music, jazz, ballet, modern dance
artists and groups, Turkish and foreign alike, took part in the Yapı Kredi Arts Festival.
This is the eleventh year of the festival and due to a strategic decision to spread
it over an entire year, far broader audiences will be able to enjoy its offerings. During
the first half of the festival, from May to July, renowned artists and groups like
Yngwie Malmsteen, Vanessa Mae, Randy Weston, George Benson, The Blood Sweat and Tears,
The Temptations, Gary Burton, Cassandra Wilson, etc. were welcomed and it was a success
despite the bad weather conditions in May. Moreover a group of special exhibitions
with special themes such as "Noah's Ark in Beyoğlu", "Poems of Contemporary
Turkish Poets with their own Handwritings", "Jules Lauren's Journey to Turkey" were
introduced to the public, free of charge. The second half of the festival, from September
to December, started on the 5th of September'98 with Kudsi Erguner's "United Sounds
of Sufi and Jazz Music" concert. September'98 brought a variety of celebrated artists
and groups to İstanbul. Iron Maiden, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Soul II Soul,
Compania Lirica La Zarzuela, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin are some of them. One
of the goals of the Festival's corporate sponsor, the Yapı Kredi Bank, is to include
not only İstanbul but also other cities in the festival program. This year, because
of a venue problem, a majority of the events were scheduled in Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air
Theater, Atatürk Cultural Center, Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall and İstanbul
Convention and Exhibition Center (Lütfi Kırdar Kongre ve Sergi Sarayı). However
in the past, certain events were held in Ankara, Adana, Denizli, Bursa and Efes as
well.  The
institutions that organize events in İstanbul face a major difficulty in finding
a suitable venue. The İstanbul Convention and Exhibition Center is built mainly to
hold conferences and conventions but is called upon to serve for concerts and other
performances. Since the Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theater has the biggest seat capacity,
the events need to be concentrated during the summer months. |
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Privateview: Autumn 1998 |
