Istanbul Music Festival

The Istanbul Music Festival is considered as the most prestigious and established classical music event in Turkey. Throughout its history of more than 40 years, it has played a major role in building up an appreciation for classical music in Istanbul and Turkey. Acclaimed nationally and internationally with its creative programmes and innovative structure, the festival strives to create opportunities for artists to share their inspiration and artistic experience with one another and contribute to the enrichment of the national and international classical music repertoire.

Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, the first Istanbul Music Festival, the flagship of the Istanbul Festivals, took place between 15 June and 15 July 1973, originally under the title “Istanbul Festival”. In its earlier years it has included in its programmes the finest examples of artistic creativity in diverse fields. In time, İKSV started to organise separate festivals and biennials in different fields, and during this process, the festival was renamed “Istanbul Music Festival” in 1994. Since 1973, the Istanbul Festivals and Biennials are proud to have become a joint platform for the local and the universal, for past and present, and for the role they have played in reinforcing such values as respect for cultural diversity and freedom of expression in order to enrich dialogue between societies and cultures regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or belief.