Several Israeli artists recently took center stage at a number of cultural festivals in Turkey, as part of the celebrations for Israel’s 75th birthday.
"As the cultural sector resumes its full activities, Israel is sending artists to almost every event and every festival!" said Sigal Cohen, cultural attaché at the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul.
Musicians Omer Klein and Alexey Grismitz attended the iconic Classical Music Festival organized by the IKSV Foundation (Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts), which opened at the beginning of June.
IKSV also organizes events in the fields of cinema, theatre, dance and more.
Klein and Grismitz performed an original, unique program of piano and percussion, with their works inspired by Stravinsky's iconic piece Firebird. The concert was attended by some 800 people, a very diverse crowd of men and women, young and old, religious and secular, all captured by the musicians’ mastery.
The digital material features at the event carried the logo “ARTS ISRAEL” as well as the logos of all the partners of the initiative.
Israeli mandolin player Avi Avital also performed at the IKSV festival. His outdoor concert took place at the Koç Museum in Istanbul in front of 750 guests, who very much enjoyed his music.
During his visit to Turkey, Avital also met with prominent Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say, who had visited Israel in May for a series of concerts with the Tel Aviv Philarmonic Orchestra.
Avital gave Fazil a master class in mandolin composition for a piece that the pianist is working on. The Turkish artist described his Israeli fellow musician as a “mandolin genius.”
Fazil posted a picture with Avital on his social media channels and the post reached over 10,000 Likes.