Southwetern Hamlet Gumusluk hosts 10th Cassical Music Festival

The annual Gumusluk International Classical Music Festival is marking its 10th year with a series of concerts by acclaimed performers from around the world from July 15 to Aug. 16 in the southwestern seaside village of Gumusluk, near the holiday resort town of Bodrum. This year's festival opened on Monday night with a concert by classical pianist Gulsin Onay and her son, violinist Erkin Onay, in the ancient stone quarry in the village's Koyunbaba area, which has replaced the festival's former main venue, the historic Eklisia Church, the Dogan news agency reported on Tuesday. Nearly 500 guests, including figures from the Turkish art community and state officials, attended the gala concert, which featured pieces by Beethoven, Turkish composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun and Brahms, along with other composers. The concert was dedicated to the former director of the Is Sanat cultural center, Meric Soylu, who died in 2012. Pianists Yury Martynov from Russia, Mauricio Vallina from Cuba, Pierre Reach from France, Aldo Ragone from Italy and Fazıl Say from Turkey, the Bogazici University Jazz Choir, Italian guitarist Carlo Domeniconi and his South African counterpart Derek Gripper are among the artists included in the festival's lineup of musicians and ensembles. The festival also features a competition, the Ahmed Adnan Saygun International Piano Competition, this weekend. Held in two categories, the competition is open to pianists born between 1983 and 1985 and others born after 1995. First launched in 2004 as a piano concert series, the festival is a joint effort by the Gumusluk Culture and Arts Association and the municipalities of Gumusluk and Bodrum. For further information about the festival and concert dates visit www.gumuslukfestival.org.