The Klasik Keyifler Music Festival celebrates its 5^th season this summer, marking the central Anatolian region of Cappadocia not only as a destination for archeological exploration and other-worldly outdoor adventure, but also as a location for inspiring and soul-nourishing musical events. This years events start with seminars at the KK Association Center in Çengelköy, İstanbul in July 27 and continue in locations throughout the Cappadocia region. Borusan Quartet, Harrie Starreveld, Joel Bons, Ellen Jewett, Jerfi Aji, Kıvanç Tire, Indira Rahmatulla, Javier Lopez Calvo, Marta Gulyas, Calvin Wiersma, Birsen Ulucan, Özcan Ulucan, Çağdaş Özkan, Ayşen Ulucan, Kiya Tabassian, Cem Önertürk, Cellistanbul, KK Festival Orchestra and Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra lead by Orhun Orhon will the festival’s musicians. The festival will end in August 11.

The festival is organized by the KK Music Association, which is a group dedicated to spreading its passion for chamber music throughout Turkey. Having established a summer academy at an Ottoman Medresse restored by the Cappadocia Vocational College in MustafaPaşa-or old Sinassos, Klasik Keyifler musicians perform in diverse venues throughout the region including caves, old churches and monasteries, town courtyards and bars.

The Klasik Keyifler Music Festival sponsors are Argeus Tourism & Travel, Argos in Cappadocia, Gallery Cappadocia, Chamber Music Exchange (CME), Dutch Performing Arts, İTÜ Dr. Erol Üçer MIAM-Center for advanced Studies in Music, Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra ve Andante Magazine.

Concerts, seminars, workshops and conversations…

One of the biggest festival sponsors, Argos in Uçhisar provides the intimate environs for a chamber music series, which takes place in Bezirhane, a Byzantine oil press. At Argos, listeners will be treated to performances by many of Turkey's beloved musicians such as the Borusan Quartet, the Ulucan siblings, Ellen Jewett and Jerfi Aji. Several renowned artists and pedagogues will join the festival this season including Hungarian pianist Marta Gulyas who is the head of Chamber Music at the Liszt Academy in Budapest as well as American violinist Cal Wiersma, a member of the Manhattan String Quartet. These distinguished professionals will perform with advanced students in a uniquely cooperative atmosphere. The spontaneous atmosphere will also feature “pop-up” performances with unexpected gems of chamber music as participants discover the pleasure of playing together.

To foster ongoing relationships between composers and performers, KK received funding from the organization “Dutch Performing Arts” to invite composer Joel Bons, the director of the Nieuw Ensemble in Amsterdam, to lead seminars for a workshop entitled "Composers Cauldron". He will be joined by the Dutch flutist Harrie Starreveld, who is regarded as one of the world's leading specialists in contemporary flute repertoire. On the lighter side, concert goers will enjoy the soulful sounds of Cellistanbul with a cello choir of students from conservatories throughout Turkey. KK takes a special interest in providing a platform for the young generation of performers who are beginning to make a name for themselves in the music world, including Kıvanç Tire, Indira Rahmatulla, Çağdaş Özkan, Cem Onurtürk and Ayşen Ulucan.

Thanks to the generous support from MÜZGENDER the festival's finale will join the Ankara Youth Orchestra together with KK Festival artists.

The Klasik Keyifler Music Festival Program

27-28 July - İstanbul KK Association Center

From Composer’s Cauldron

From Nieuw Ensemble Joel Bons, Harrie Starreveld, Kiya Tabassian; and Onur Türkmen

30 July - 02 August - Cappadocia

From Composer’s Cauldron

02 August; 18:00 - KYMO (Mustafapaşa)
From Composer’s Cauldron
Harrie Starreveld, Calvin Wiersma and KK Festival artists.

After concert: Conversation and movie show at the Elleni Upper Kat (Mustafapaşa).

Guests: Joel Bons and Onur Türkmen

Topic: Nieuw Ensemble

03 August; 21:30 - Zelve Valley (Avanos)
Opening Concert
KK Festival artists and guests from Kayseri Modern Art Academy - MOSA

04 August; 14:30 - KMYO (Mustafapaşa)
Sıcak Çikolata - Birsen Ulucan  piano class concert
After concert: Conversation with the Birsen Ulucan, Ellen Jewett, Özcan Ulucan and Kayseri MOSA managers.

Topic: Children learn why and how music

04 August; 18:00 - KMYO (Mustafapaşa)
Calvin Wiersma and KK Festival artists concert

05 August; 21:30 Argos in Cappadocia / Bezirhane (Uçhisar)
Reflecting Goethe
Ellen Jewett and Kıvanç Tire; violins

Jerfi Aji; piano

Javier Lopez Carlo; viola

Indira Rahmetullah; cello

06 August; 14:30 KMYO (Mustafapaşa)
Marta Gulyas piano class concert

06 August; 21:30  Argos in Cappadocia / Bezirhane (Uçhisar)
7 Composers, 7 Countries
Borusan Quartet

After concert: Conversation with the Serhan Bali (from Andante Magazine)

Topic: Music, festival program and musicians.

07 August; 21:30 Argos in Cappadocia / Bezirhane (Uçhisar)
Hungarian Rhapsody
Marta Gulyas and Birsen Ulucan; piano

Özcan Ulucan; violin
After concert: Conversation with the Orhun Orhon (from Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra)

Topic: Music, festival program and musicians.

08 August; 20:30 Şıra Hotel (Uçhisar)

Conversation with the Prof. Erhan Karasemen (from METU)

Topic: Stravinsky The Rite of Spring and Picasso

08 August; 21:30 Argos in Cappadocia / Bezirhane (Uçhisar)

100 Years with  Le sacre de printemps

Jerfi Aji and Çağdas Özkan; piano
Ayşen Ulucan; violin

Cem Önertürk; flut

09 August; 21:30 Saklı Valley (Mustafapaşa)
Cello Heaven
Cellistanbul, KK Festival artists and “Children of Cappadocia” (Music for Everyone project participants)

10 August; 21:30  Zelve Valley (Avanos)
KK Festival
KK Festival Orchestra and Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor, Orhun Orhon

11 August; 14:30 KMYO (Mustafapaşa)
Closing Concert

KK Festival artists

KK Workshops

From Composer’s Cauldron / July 27 - August 02

Çellistanbul Cello Workshop / August 05-10

Calvin Wiersma Master Class / July 30 - August 04

Marta Gulyas Piano Class / August 02-05

Birsen Ulucan Piano Master Class / August 02-06

Özcan Ulucan Master Class / August 01-08

Klasik Keyifler (KK) is an organization dedicated to the innovative presentation of small chamber ensemble concerts and workshops in a wide variety of intimate settings primarily within Turkey.

Designed to offer a retreat for artists, a creative portal for music students and a source of inspiration and contemplation for audience members, KK projects seek to close the boundaries between performers and listeners by enabling interaction and by informalizing the concert venues in ways that both reflect the historical origins of chamber music as well as offer a personal immediacy that can be hard to find in large modern concert halls.

 KK offers workshops for music lovers and designs unique educational programs for young musicians preparing for careers in the 21st century. Cultural exchange and collaboration are central to the KK projects. For thousands of years the land now known as Turkey has been a major crossroads and the fragments of hundreds of different civilizations are visible side by side. KK aims to connect and bring players from around the globe in order to make music together in these multicultural, historical and “classical” sites thus feeding the imaginations that interpret the musical "classics" of both the East and West.

'Keyif' is a difficult Turkish word to translate into English; it describes a process of having reached a state of contentment and euphoria.