The list of musicians that will perform during the 27th Istanbul Jazz Festival, to be held by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) in the fall with the support of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has been determined following auditions held at Salon IKSV on July 11-12.
The musicians that applied for the 18th Young Jazz Concerts program will perform at the "Jazz in the Parks" concerts as part of the festival. Among those chosen are Afroloji, An Quartet, Büşra Kayıkçı, Deli Bakkal, Saynur Eren Duo Project and Udgang Trio.
Young Jazz aims to create a platform where amateur or semiprofessional young musicians and bands can take part in the Istanbul Jazz Festival program, encouraging them and preparing them for the professional music world.
The Young Jazz assessment concerts were held without an audience at Salon IKSV, in line with the circular on "Controlled Normalization Process in Culture And Art Facilities" prepared by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to protect against COVID-19. This year’s selection committee consisted of musicians Aycan Teztel, Ayşe Tütüncü, Cenk Erdoğan, Kalben, Selen Gülün and Volkan Öktem, as well as music critic Feridun Ertaşkan, music critic and producer Hülya Tunçağ, journalist Yekta Kopan, radio programmer Hakan Rauf Tüfekçi and Istanbul Jazz Festival Director Harun Izer. The concerts were broadcast live on IKSV's YouTube channel for the first time.
Over the past 17 years, Young Jazz concerts have enabled over 80 young musicians and ensembles to participate in the same festival as world-renowned jazz artists. Following the Istanbul Jazz Festival, Young Jazz participants have had opportunities to participate in other festivals and to perform in various jazz clubs in Turkey and abroad. Among the musicians and ensembles that participated in Young Jazz in recent years are Gevende, Mikado, Ece Göksu, Ozan Musluoğlu, Batuhan Şallıel and Anıl Şallıel, Volkan Topakoğlu, Yaşam Hancılar, Cihan Mürtezaoğlu, Deniz Taşar, Çağrı Sertel, Ekin Cengizkan, Başak Yavuz, Tolga Erzurumlu, Tümer Uluçınar, Hakan Başar, Geeva Flava, Eylül Biçer, Sanat Deliorman, İpek Dinç, Can Tutuğ, Cazzip Project, The Kites and Gagarin Jazz Band.