The man of strings, world-renowned kemenche player Mark Eliyahu and his orchestra will give a free concert in Harem Square of Üsküdar district, located on the Anatolian shore of the Bosporus, on Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of music lovers from all over Istanbul are expected to attend the free public concert that will mark the commencement of the culture and arts season in the district known as the cultural melting pot.

Dubbed the man of deep melodies, Mark Eliyahu started music with the classical violin at the age of 4. His father, Piris Eliyahu, is a prominent composer and his mother is a concert pianist. He met with the "small bow" kemenche, the three-stringed musical instrument that originated in the regions adjacent to the Black Sea in Greece and then took lessons from an honored artist of Azerbaijan, Adalat Vazirov.

Eliyahu was born in Dagestan, now part of Russia, a region heavily influenced by both Turkic and Persian culture over the centuries. Then he moved with his Jewish parents to Israel as the Soviet Union collapsed.

The songs and works of Mark Eliyahu are followed with admiration by millions of people in many countries of the world.