The trace of the President who loves Pavarotti is at the Istanbul Music Festival
Last night, we heard American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, whose voice The Times described as "more valuable than 24 carat gold", at Hagia Irene.
DiDonato, who sang the little-known arias of famous composers for his own project "In War and Peace", appeared before us with a painted face and body symbolizing war in the first episode.
We did not realize how two hours passed in the unique Hagia Irene, which has witnessed war and peace in its 1500-year history, who knows how many times.
In the notes we found on the chairs before the concert, DiDonato asked us this meaningful question:
“How do you find peace in the midst of chaos?”.
Breathe for a minute and answer the question.
This afternoon, in the 555-year-old Grand Bazaar, there is a concert of "Songs of Istanbul" by local and foreign artists, together with Kudsi Erguner, the Unesco ambassador of peace, who took part in the special project of the law virtuoso Hakan Güngör.
While experiencing the beauties of the 46th Istanbul Music Festival, one of the companies of the Elginkan Group, which has undertaken the sponsorship of the festival for the third time this year, E.C.A Chairman of the Board Gaye Akçen comes to mind:
“The late Hüseyin Ekrem Elginkan, President of Elginkan, was very fond of classical music. We have been to the Pavarotti concert together. Our participation in the Istanbul Music Festival today is the result of this unique legacy left to us”.
The trace of the President who loves Pavarotti is at the Istanbul Music Festival.
It's good that.
NEW INVESTMENTS AND EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS
We are meeting with Gaye Akçen at the Elginkan Foundation's building in Esentepe to get to know Elginkan, who is also the show sponsor of the concert in the Grand Bazaar, and to talk about her future projects.
I've written a few times before, let me remind you again.
Elginkan Group is an organization in Turkey whose assets and income belong to a foundation.
It was founded in 1951 by the Elginkan family from Manisa.
Hüseyin Ekrem and Cahit Elginkan brothers are the first contractors to open to Anatolia.
Established in 1957, the E.C.A brand consists of the initials of Ekrem, Cahit and their father Ahmet Elginkan.
All shares and management of the group passed to the Elginkan Foundation after the last representative of the family, Ekrem Elginkan, passed away in 1999.
Gaye Akçen, the "spiritual daughter" of Hüseyin Ekrem Elginkan, has been in the group for 22 years.
After serving as vice-president for many years, she took over the Presidency of the Executive Council five years ago.
She sees herself as a student of Hüseyin Ekrem Elginkan, she.
In our conversation, he explains that the community, which includes 21 companies and 13 factories and exports brands such as E.C.A and Serel to 70 countries, allocates all its profits to new investments and educational projects of the foundation.
It's a really interesting model.
GIRLS' DORMITORY IS BUILDING IN GİRESUN
In the training centers established by the Elginkan Foundation, 430 thousand people have been trained so far.
Since 2006, it has provided scholarships to 2,000 students.
Speaking of education, Gaye Akçen says that the foundation will lay the foundation of the 400-bed Giresun Vocational Training Dormitory in Giresun in the coming days.
In addition to the dormitory, which will cost 15 to 20 million liras, the project of the Technical Training Center to be established in Istanbul Sancaktepe is ready, she said.
At the beginning of the new investments is the project of establishing Serel tile ceramic factory in Bilecik.
We wondered how much the Elginkan Group has grown per year.
Akçen said, “We are growing at an average of 15-20 percent per year. I cannot accept anything lower,” she replies.
THE FAUCET COLLECTION HAS A FACTOR FROM THE 15TH CENTURY
On the last floor of the ELGİNKAN Foundation building, there is one of Turkey's most important historical faucet collections.
The collection, which was exhibited in Hagia Eirene on the 50th Anniversary of the Elginkan Group, was created by Hüseyin Ekrem Elginkan with the support of his close friend, Msc Engineer Cüneyt Ölçer.
The faucets from the 15th century in the unique collection of E.C.A, which produces advanced faucet technology today, are ball-shaped.
Animal heads and flower forms such as dragon, snake, ram were widely used in 16th and 17th century faucets.
If you think that Fatih Sultan Mehmet had 200 fountains built in Istanbul, 70 fountains in Beyazıt and 700 fountains built by Kanuni, it becomes clear how important faucets are in our culture.
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