Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Arts and Culture (İKSV) and sponsored by Garanti Bank for the past 17 years, the 21st Istanbul Jazz Festival begins on 1 July. Taking place across 13 different venues until 16 July and hosting over 200 local and international acts in Istanbul, including masters like Hugh Laurie, Katie Melua, Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke, as well as the rising stars of international jazz, such as Cécile Mclorin Salvant and Kellylee Evans, the festival will also bring the magic of jazz to the city’s parks with this year’s new event, “Jazz in the Parks.”

During its first week, the 21st Istanbul Jazz Festival will host the Turkey premiere of one of the country’s most important artists, composer, author, and musician Zülfü Livaneli’s new piece composed for poems of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi, “Rumi Suite-The Eternal Day”. The concert, featuring Zülfü Livaneli as composer and including his on-stage presentations, will be taking place with the contributions of the Goethe Institut at

Sepetçiler Kasrı (Basketmakers’ Kiosk) on Wednesday, 2 July evening at 21.15.

Jazz lovers can check out the festival programme on caz.iksv.org. Furthermore, the festival’s Facebook and Twitter pages will have the latest news and miscellaneous information on the festival.