The Istanbul Jazz Festival began Thursday night, launching the opening night of this well known jazz festival at the Marmara Esma Sultan in Ortaköy. This is the 18th year of the jazz festival sponsored by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV). The Istanbul Jazz Festival is a favorite among European fans.
Jazz musicians such Natalie Cole, Grammy award winning chanteuse, Randy Crawford, Joe Sample and American icon Paul Simon will be featured on the programme of the Festival. A Lifetime Achievement award was presented on opening night, Thursday, to Okay Temiz, the Turkish Jazz Master who has influenced decades of jazz musicians and the jazz scene in Turkey.
Opening night featured a homage to jazz great American musician Miles Davis with the “Tribute to Miles” concert. Percussionists Misirli Ahmet, and Zakir Hussain, will also be featured with the sitar virtuoso Niladri Kumar.
Other musicians performing at the Istanbul Jazz Festival include Wayne Shorter, Marcus Miller, Neil Cowley Trio, Jehan Barbur, Emir Ersoy and Herbie Hancock. The Jazz Festival will take place in various venues around Istanbul over the 20 days including at the Istanbul Archaeology Musean, the Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theatre, the Tersane (Ottoman shipyard) Stage, the Marmara Esma Sultan on the Bosphorus in Ortaköy, and the Santral İstanbul amphitheater. The Istanbul Jazz festival take place these various locations using the city of Istanbul as its stage. The Istanbul Jazz Festival will last until July 19, in over 25 different venues with about 40 live performances with approximately 300 jazz musicians from both Turkey and abroad.
Tickets are available through Biletix.
The following events are scheduled for December, the last month of the Istanbul 2010 Capital of Culture year. When this year is over, this site will continue on as a venue for the arts and culture of Istanbul, one of the greatest cities in the world. We will be reporting on future cultural events, exhibitions, dance, theater, music, film and the arts for art lovers around the world.
If you haven’t been to Istanbul yet, now’s the time to visit the one of the most fascinating cities in the world and experience its cultural works and productions for the final month of this special year.
This schedule comes from Istanbul2010.org.
Event: Istanpoli – Kassas
Date: 7 December
Time: 20:00
Venue: Sancaktepe Municipality Samandıra Cultural Center
* Paid Admission
*Closed for the Media
Event: Istanpoli – Kassas
Date: 8 December
Time: 20:00
Venue: Güngören Erdem Beyazıt Cultural Center
* Paid Admission
*Closed for the Media
Exhibitions
Event: ” Istanbul World Musişcs Festival” Photograph Exhibition
Date: 1-26 December
Time: 10:00-19:00
Venue: Sanat Limanı
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: “A Bunch of Flowers” Exhibition
Date: Until 2 December
Time: 17:00
Venue: Bağlarbaşı Cultural Center
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: ” Istanbul ‘s Treasures Reflected on Paper” Art of Kaat’ı Exhibition
Date: 3-5 December
Time: 14:30
Venue: Akatlar Cultural Center
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Sultans of Poetry Exhibition
Date: 4 December
Time: 16:00
Venue: Divan Literature Foundation
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Alliance of Civlizations International Philately Exhibition
Date: 5-15 December
Venue: Turkish Islamic Arts Musum
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Mahya Design Competition
Date: 8 – 29 December
Time: 17:00
Venue: Yeni Camii Hünkar Kasrı (New Mosque’s Sultans Mansion )
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Traditional Turkish Book Arts: Masters of Today
Date: 10 -31 December
Time: 16:00
Venue: Fatih Ali Emiri Cultural Center
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: “Csontváry: An Extraordinary Master of the Hungarian Painting”
Date: Until 12 December
Time: Tuesday – Saturday 10:00 – 19:00 / Sunday 12:00 – 18:00
Venue: Pera Museum
*Paid Admission
*Open for the Media
Event: Portable Art: “Heyday-Spread of Innovations” Exhibition
Date: Until 14 December
Time: 16:00
Venue: Sefaköy Cultural Center
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Kameraphoto Exhibition
Date: Until 18 December
Time: All Day
Venue: Cezayir Restaurant
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: History and Destruction in Istanbul / Ghost Buildings – Exhibition
Date: Until 23 December
Time: From 10:00 to 19:00 Everyday except Sundays
Venue: Cumhuriyet Art Gallery
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Istanbul Art Biennial of Children and Youth
Date: Until 25 December
Time: From 10:00 to 18:00 except Mondays
Venue: Sanat Limanı, Haydarpaşa Train Station, Tuzla İdris Güllüce Cultural Center
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: ” Istanbul Art Biennial of Children and Youth” Percussion Workshop
Date: 2 December
Time: 13:00 – 13.45
Venue: Warehouse #5 (Sanat Limanı)
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: ” Istanbul Art Biennial of Children and Youth” Concert and Body Performances
Date: 2 December
Time: Monologue 13:30 – 14:30 Dance (Folklore) 17:00-18:00
Venue: Warehouse #5 (Sanat Limanı)
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Concert and Body Performances
Date: 3 December
Time: Theatre 10:00 – 12:00 Step show 13:30 – 14:30 Ryhthm 15:00 – 16:00
Venue: Warehouse #5 (Sanat Limanı)
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Sea of Marble : A Navigational Convergence
Date: Until 26 December
Time: Except Mondays 10:00 – 19:00
Venue: Sanat Limanı
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Edge Of Arabia / Transition
Date: Until 26 December
Time: Except Mondays 10:00 – 19:00
Venue: Sanat Limanı
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: “Hammer-Purgstall” Exhibition
Date: Until 30 December
Venue: Austrian Culture Office
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: “Mimar Sinan meets Palladio in Istanbul ” Exhibition Opening
Date: Until 31 December
Time: 10:00 – 18:00
Venue: MSFAU Tophane-i Amire Cultural Center
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: ‘Art with Pebbles’ Installation
Date: Until 31 December
Venue: Hasköy Park , Golden Horn
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Molecular ( ISTANBUL ) Installation by Serge Spitzer
Date: Till the end of 2010
Time: 11:00 – 18:00
Venue: Hasköy Mayor Synanogue
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media (Upon permission)
Event: “To be in Istanbul , being an Istanbulite” Statue Installation
Date: Until December 31
Venue: Caddebostan Dalyan Park
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Sarah Zucker “Invisible Musicians” Exhibition
Date: Until December 31
Time: Tuesday-Friday: 10:00-17:00 Saturday-Sunday: 10:00-19:00
Venue: Rahmi M. Koç Museum
*Paid Admission
Event: Istanbul 1910-2010: The City, Built Environment and Architectural Culture Exhibition
Date: Until 16 January
Time: From 10:00 to 20:00 everyday except Mondays
Venue: Santral İstanbul
*Paid Admission
*Open for the Media
Other
Event: International Cooperation Platform Conference
Date: 3-5 December
Venue: Swissotel
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Istanbul Woman – Woman Istanbul “Woman Politicians of Istanbul ” Panel
Date: 4 December
Time: 13:00 – 15:00
Venue: Women Works’ Library
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: “Ottoman Culture and Tasavvuf” Talks
Date: 4 December
Time: 14:00
Venue: Yenikapı Mevlevi Lodge
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Sema Ceremony
Date: 5 December
Time: 14:00
Venue: Yenikapı Mevlevi Lodge, Zeytinburnu
*Paid Admission
*Closed for the Media (Upon Special Permission)
Event: Literature Season (IInd Istanbul Literature Festival)
Date: 6-11 December
Venue: Kızlarağası Medresesi ( Istanbul Branch of Turkey Writers Union )
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: “Theatre in School” Playwright Competition Award Ceremony and “Our Life is Theatre” Introduction of the Childrens Plays Selection Book
Date: 7 December
Time: 16:00-18:00
Venue: State Theatres Istanbul Little Stage (Küçük Sahne) – Atlas Alley
*Free of Charge
*Open for the Media
Event: Waltraut Cooper (Light Fleet) / Austria
Date: Until December 31
Venue: Golden Horn
*Free Admission
*Open for the Media
This art review by Richard Dorment was posted on the telegraph.co.uk of Istanbul’s most famous contemporary artist Kutlug Ataman’s first big exhibition in Turkey. Kutlug Ataman is the Turner Prize-nominated artist whose recent film installation is called “fff” (family found footage), composed of 6mm and Super 8mm hand-held camera films from the 1950s and 1960s, borrowed from two English families, accompanied by two separate music scores which play at the same time creating a kind of chaos.
Kutlug Ataman, although from Turkey, describes himself as a global artist. He now lives in the U.K. where he feels “It’s not so Turkish-specific any more. I have dealt with it as much as I can. I’m more excited to be in Britain and to be part of a more global culture.”
As Istanbul’s year as the cultural capital of Europe will draw to a close, the Istanbul2010 Culture website will continue to concentrate of the cultural works and art of Istanbul, one of the most fascinating cities of the world.
Contemporary Artist Kutlug Ataman
Kutlug Ataman, Istanbul Modern, review
“A new show by Kutlug Ataman is worth flying thousands of miles to see, says Richard Dorment .
Although based in Britain, Kutlug Ataman is Turkey’s best-known contemporary artist. He’s also one of the few artists of any nationality whose work I’d travel anywhere in the world to see. So when the invitation to attend the opening of his first major exhibition inside Turkey arrived, I didn’t have to think twice before accepting.
I was familiar with pieces shown at the Venice Biennale, the Serpentine Gallery, and Tate Britain’s Turner Prize exhibition in 2004, but to see his funny, shocking, and compassionate video installations in Istanbul was a very different experience from seeing them in London. The show transformed my understanding of his art.
At the entrance to his retrospective at Istanbul Modern, “The Enemy Inside Me”, visitors are confronted with a work from 2007 entitled Turkish Delight. Here in Europe, the giant single-screen video might be mistaken for a light-hearted jeu d’esprit. But against a Turkish backdrop it is so toe-curlingly, excruciatingly embarrassing that it was almost unbearable to watch. In it, Ataman films himself performing a lumbering belly dance while scantily clad in a gold-sequined costume and wearing a woman’s wig.”
Opening night featured a homage to jazz great American musician Miles Davis with the “Tribute to Miles” concert. Percussionists Misirli Ahmet, and Zakir Hussain, will also be featured with the sitar virtuoso Niladri Kumar. 
