Turkey's longest-running event, the 61st International Bursa Festival, will be held between 07-31 July with the participation of famous artists and groups. The festival will start on July 22 with the 35th Golden Karagöz Folk Dance Competition, in which guest dancers from 07 countries will participate, and will end with the Yıldız Tilbe concert on July 31.
The introductory meeting of the 61st 'International Bursa Festival', organized by the Bursa Culture, Art and Tourism Foundation (BKSTV) on behalf of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality and supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, was held at the Hilton Hotel. Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Alinur Aktaş, BKSTV President Sadi Etkeser, BKSTV Board of Directors, representatives of sponsor companies and press members attended the introductory meeting of the festival.
60 artists in 1512 years
Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Alinur Aktaş reminded that Bursa Festival is a special organization that has cost Bursa since 1962 and is identified with the city. Expressing that cities grow and develop to the extent that culture and art are embraced, kept alive and developed, Mayor Aktaş said, “With this understanding, we make Bursa more livable with our underground and above-ground investments, while adding value to our city with our events that are included in the world's culture and art calendar. One of our values that keeps the traditional culture and art enthusiasm of our city alive is the International Bursa Festival. It is not easy to maintain a festival that could not be held for only 1 year due to the pandemic for 61 years. We hosted 60 artists with 1197 events in 1512 years at our festival, which added a different dimension to the cultural and artistic life of Bursa.”
It starts with Altın Karagöz
The International Bursa Festival will start with the International Golden Karagöz Folk Dance Competition on July 7 this year and the festival enthusiasm will continue until July 31. Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, South Korea, Georgia, Croatia, Spain, Italy, Montenegro, TRNC, Kosovo, North Ossetia, Hungary, were selected by the art committee among 17 countries that applied to Altın Karagöz, which includes 58 districts of Bursa. The teams from Macedonia, Mexico, Uzbekistan, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Serbia and Tanzania were selected. Guest dancers will show their skills to the citizens both at the Kültürpark Open Air Theater and in the 17 districts of Bursa for a week.
Bursa will be full of music
After the International Golden Karagöz Folk Dance Competition, the concert at the Open Air Theater will start with the performance of Bursa Regional State Symphony Orchestra with Karsu on 14 July. Bursa residents will watch the world-famous Sukhishvili dance performance during the festival and will have the opportunity to listen to the legendary names Cengiz Kurtoğlu, Ümit Besen and Arif Susam on the same stage. The festival will continue with the theater play "Richard", in which Shakespeare's famous tragedy is staged, by Edis, Özcan Deniz, Muazzez Ersoy, Melike Şahin, Madrigal, Shantel and Okan Bayülgen. One of the world's leading music commentators, UNESCO music award winner, Azerbaijani vocal artist Alim Qasimov will share the stage with a magnificent performance accompanied by world-renowned jazz musician Michael Godard and Turkey's clarinet voice Hüsnü Şençiler. Also, due to the 100th anniversary of the Republic, Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Orchestra will give a special concert with Dilek Türkan and Hüseyin Turan. In the final of the festival, Yıldız Tilbe, one of the best female performers of Turkish pop music, will take the stage.
A festival full of
President Aktaş, who shared the festival program with the public, stated that a full festival awaits Bursa residents this year as well and invited all music lovers to the festival. The main sponsor of the festival, Atış Group of Companies, and the main sponsor of the International Golden Karagöz Folk Dance Competition DurmazlarPresident Aktaş thanked to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Uludağ Premium, Oyak Renault, Harput Holging, Keskinoğlu, Şahinkaya Schools, Bursa Trade and Industry, for supporting our citizens to have fun in half or even cheaper than the market conditions with their contributions. Room, Özhan Marketler, Çaytaze, Royal Termal Hotel, Opel-Nescar, Hitachi Astemo, Nev Hospitals, Hilton, Turkish Airlines, ZeplinX, Parkur AVM, Sur Yapı AVM, Medya16 and our other sponsors for their contributions. I would like to express my gratitude to the mayors of Bursa in the previous periods, the managers and employees of BKSTV, the companies that supported the festival, and also the Honorary President of our foundation, Fatma Durmaz. My biggest thanks go to the esteemed art lovers. "For taking care of this festival and filling the Open Air Theatre," he said.
61 years of story
Bursa Culture, Art and Tourism Foundation President Sadi Etkeser said, “This story, which started with the unique voices of Müzeyyen Senar and Zeki Müren, and has continued for 61 years from generation to generation, will continue to illuminate our city between 7-31 July. Festival tickets will be on sale between 100 TL and 400 TL, perhaps less than half of the market prices. I would like to thank our Metropolitan Municipality, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and our sponsors who always support us, who are always with us and give us strength in order to increase the contribution of our non-profit foundation to cultural and artistic activities.”
marketable
Underlining that Bursa is a very important cultural city, Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Dr. Kamil Özer said, “Bursa Festival, with its 61-year story, is truly an event worth remembering, continuing and supporting. Because everything with a story is also suitable for marketing. Continuing uninterruptedly for 61 years is also very special. In this respect, on behalf of our Ministry, I would like to thank our Metropolitan Mayor and all the foundations and mayors who have supported us so far.”
One of the sponsors of the festival, Ahmet Atış, CEO of Atış Group of Companies, and Özer Matlı, Chairman of Bursa Commodity Exchange, said that they are happy to contribute to Turkey's longest-running festival.