Jazz in the air: Grammy winner Chris Botti performs in Istanbul

Grammy Award-winning master trumpeter and composer Chris Botti has performed in Istanbul.

In his speech onstage, Botti expressed his gratitude for being able to perform in the city again.

“We are grateful to have been given the opportunity to make music in Istanbul many times. It is wonderful to be asked to listen to our music again. The most important thing here is to come back to the city we enjoyed playing in,” he said on Tuesday.

The two-hour concert was held at the Ataturk Cultural Center. 

Botti also expressed his pleasure to be onstage with talented and successful names in jazz music.

He was accompanied by Lee Pearson on drums, Leonardo Amuedo on guitar, Holger Marjamaa on piano, Chad Lefkowitz Brown on saxophone, Reggie Hamilton on bass guitar, Caroline Campbell on violin and Sy Smith, Veronica Swift and Jonathan Johnson on vocals.

"Symbolic” site in Istanbul

In the fall of 2017, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the new project known by its Turkish initials, AKM, saying it would be a “symbolic” site in Istanbul.

Erdogan inaugurated the Ataturk Cultural Center on Friday.

The new building boasts a world-class opera hall with over 2,000 seats, a theatre hall, backstage rooms and fair areas.

The centre also has meeting rooms, administrative offices, restaurants and art galleries.