Holiday resort to become classical music stage

Music lovers will have the chance to listen to music by local and foreign musicians at sunset and give to a good cause at the eighth edition of the D-Marin Turgutreis International Classical Music Festival, which will be held on July 14, 15, 17 and 18 this year. Speaking to Anatolia news agency, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra director Tahsin Arslan said the festival was organized to develop the country's classical music scene and bring together domestic and foreign tourists in Bodrum, one of Turkey's most popular tourism destinations. All of the festival's earnings will be donated to the Tohum Autism Foundation and the Bodrum Health Foundation. At the opening of the festival the Presidential Symphony Orchestra will perform with the soloist tenor Jose Carreras under the baton of chef David Gimenes, Arslan said. Turkish soprano singer Simge Buyukedes, who lives abroad, will also accompany the orchestra. The art director of the festival is Yucel Canyaran, said Arslan, adding that the event would host the leading figures of classical music. "The repertoire of the festival is very rich and it will welcome lots of musicians in Bodrum," he said. The D-Marin Turgutreis International Classical Music Festival was voted the "Classical Music Event of the Year" by a panel of judges consisting of 25 names setting the course of the music world and by the public in the 2012 Donizetti Classical Music Awards organized by Andante. The festival, which reached an audience of 7,000 in its first year, 12,000 in its second, 13,500 in its third, and 14,100 in its fourth, was admitted to the European Festivals Association (EFA) in its fifth year when it drew 15,000 people. Interest in the festival kept growing with an audience of 17,250 in its sixth year. In its seventh year the festival audience reached 17,500 people.