Ayvalik Music Festival marks 16th year with classical music concerts

The Aegean resort town of Ayvalik held the 16th edition of its annual Ayvalik Music Festival this week, featuring classical music concerts by acclaimed musicians from around the world. Organized by the Ayvalik International Music Academy (AIMA) with the aim of contributing to the improvement of classical music in Turkey, this year's festival opened on Monday with a concert by acclaimed Ukrainian violin virtuoso Andrej Bielow and Turkish pianist Iris Senturker in the historic Taksiyarhis Museum, the Dogan news agency reported. World-famous Austrian violinist Lukas David, the daughter of former Afghan king Amanullah Khan, Naciye Dogan, Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent and many other high-profile businesspeople attended the two part concert, during which Bielow and Senturker played pieces from Vivaldi, Mozart and Mendelssohn. Students and lecturers of the academy also took to the stage at the gala concert. On Tuesday, the second day of the festival, nine young Turkish musicians, including violinists Mehmet Yasemin, Nilgun Yuksel, flute player Zeynep Kelesoglu and contrabassist Onur Ozkay, performed a chamber concert in the museum. The concerts of the first two days were received with great interest by the audience. Scheduled for July 8-10, the festival was set to wrap up its 16th edition on Wednesday night in the museum with a concert dedicated to pieces of Vivaldi.