By Chris Elliott…….
Social media and Facebook in particular is a wonderful place to share good quality news with a big audience and I was delighted to see that Demetra George had shared news of the recent ATEŞ and DIVA show at the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul.
The show was premiered on November 24, 2016 at the Bellapais Abbey in North Cyprus and entitled ATEŞ and DİVA. It was the brainchild of Demetra George Mustafaoglu, former Miss Oklahoma, Grammy List Nominee and Recipient of the US State Department’s Cultural Diplomacy Award. The show was inspired by friend Didem Çapa of Istanbul who heads the Yaratıcı Çocuklar Dernegi (Creative Children’s Foundation) in conjunction with Demet Sabanci to provide scholarships and education in fine arts for the children of Turkey.
When Demetra spoke of a project near and dear to many, A CLEAN CYPRUS (Temiz Kibris) was born and a fundraising concert was planned soon after their massive Halloween event of 500 at Villa Diva in Çatalköy.
Ms. Capa knew of a great countertenor in Istanbul who sang all forms of music like Demetra and knew they would make a great team. After a warm phone conversation, the two met twice in Istanbul for rehearsals and Demetra sculpted a show with Harun Ateş and her 10 year old protégée Peri Sualp from the English School of Kyrenia. She added the talented local violinist Ammar Dadizade, outstanding TC flautist Burak Beşir and rounded it out with the gifted Istanbul pianist Barıs Büyükyıldırım to bring a first class show to the island; a fully costumed, set designed, orchestrated musical review in Bellapais Abbey!
So successful was the show that Demetra George and Didem Çapa decided they must take this wonderful show to grandiose Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul where it was performed on the 28th March in aid of the Yaratıcı Çocuklar Dernegi (Creative Children’s Foundation) to be received by a wonderful audience and also many excellent reviews.
To give our readers a taste of the wonderful show at the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul, we are pleased to be able to show below a video posted by Didem Çapa on Instagram which sums up the magic of this wonderful show.
